The Final Battle
by halolegend48
Summary: In the original Bleach ending, Yhwach was officially defeated and peace continued on for everyone. But in another realm, another universe, another course of events that happened in time, Bleach did not end that way. Yhwach was not defeated and the Bleach world we all know was destroyed. But there is still hope to save it. It would only take one trip to the original Bleach universe.
1. Chapter 1

Karakura looked so different. Unrecognizable. The place he grew up in and loved… was now practically a waste land fill with hollows, searching for their next prey. Buildings in ruble, destroyed. Streets, none existent. Nothing but cracks of the whole cement they used to be. Taken over by the dust and nature of what was underneath it all.

From a half broken roof, sitting on the edge, Kenji observed it all. He took in the entire scenery. A part of him almost started to feel sad again. Thinking of the childhood that once was, when everything was still intact and normal…

But. Those days were gone. And he's very much gotten over it. He had too. Sometime down the line, when he was 10, he had to let every painful emotion go. Sadly, his dad hasn't learned to do that. All his father does is mope around the house or stay in his room, staring at nothing but regret probably. His mother could bring him out of his usual funk, but that would only last for so long. She keeps on anyway. Being his rock.

Kenji sighed as he laid back. He stared at the only thing that still looked familiar and peaceful to him. The blue sky. At least he still had that. He could so without the hot sun, though.

A woman in destress screamed out from below him. Kenji groaned as he sat up. Why haven't the people in the town learned yet? You go out at this time of day, close to sundown, you risk getting attacked by hollows at a higher rate. The hollows tend to multiply in large numbers and get more active in the hunt during night. Kenji looked down between his legs to see the problem.

The woman was cornered by three, big, muscular snake hollows. The woman cried out, pleaded for them not to hurt her, not to eat her. She pleaded for someone to save her.

His Zanpakuto, chain strapped around his body diagonally, he reached behind him to grip the hilt of his thin sword. Black like a dark abyss, with a single, icy white, pin stripe running from the hilt to tip of the sword. It glistened in the glare of the sun.

"Getsuga…" He said. The woman and the hollows managed to hear the faint of his voice. They gazed up. The woman let a tear fall as she smiled brokenly, hopeful. Kenji let himself fall off the edge, his sword slashing down, cutting wind in a whistling sound— " _Nisshoku!_ "

A bright flash of white reiatsu in the shape of a half-moon struck down on the three hollows. They disintegrated into nothing under the power of the blast. Wind and dust swirled around, blowing Kenji's black trench coat and black hair, that was long to his neck one side and short on the other. His brown eyes met with the woman's. He showed her a slight smile.

She bowed to him in a fast motion. "Thank you so much!" Lifting her head, she shows him her full gratitude, tears still slipping from her eyes. She ran away the next moment.

Watching her run away father in the distance, Kenji put his Zanpakuto back in its sheath. "You're welcome." Sensing a sudden presence behind him, he turned around without quickness. He already knew who it was. Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Former captain of the once was, squad 12 of the gotei 13. In his ratted, teared up, white, captain shitagi. It was surprising he still wore it. He still held on to the pride and honor of being a captain. Most of the other captains, that were still alive, didn't bother to wear theirs anymore. They dread the remembrance and sight of what they loss. The duty they could not own up to in the end of a war. The man was smiling at him weirdly, which broke him out of his deep thought. "What took you so long?"

"Did I not tell you that I wasn't sure when I would be done working on it? Seemed like you were well occupied saving a life when I arrived anyway." He told him.

He did tell him that. But he didn't think it would take him almost the whole day. "Yeah. When you _finally_ arrived."

Kurotsuchi waved him down. "Futile fact." He reached inside his black kosode, pulling out a wide, clear wrist band. Tapping on it, it lit up to project a screen with two separate number pads. "This device can take you to whichever universe and time you wish. This number pad," He made sure to point them out, "is for inputting the coordinates of a universe, and this one beside it, is for the time and date." Tapping it off, Kurotsuchi handed it to him.

Kenji flipped the band around, eying every detail of it. Satisfied, he put it on his left wrist. "Alright."

"You should know as well, that it has an automatic time limit on it of 2 hours. Once that time is up, it brings you back here, to this universe. Regardless if you lose it or not."

Kenji chuckled. "I'm not that reckless."

"And I'm not that reckless to risk myself dealing a bloody, painful outcome with your mother and father if something happens to you." Kenji's annoyed eyes slowly found their way to facing Kurotsuchi, who was no longer smiling of lightness, but almost frowning in seriousness. "They don't want you doing this."

"Too bad. Something has to be done. We've discussed this." Kenji said, sighing.

"Yes. We have." Kurotsuchi responded. "Two hours, Kenji."

On his other wrist, Kenji eyed the Quincy pentacle that dangled slightly loose. He griped it. This needed to be done. "I know."

* * *

 **Original Bleach Universe**

In the home of Ichigo and his family, his son and wife, Orihime, were having a get together. Everyone wanted to watch Chad fight on TV together, so it was decided to have the meet up at Ichigo's. On the first floor, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, Ichigo's sisters, Rukia, Renji and their…

Ichigo had asked Rukia where her daughter was. She hadn't realized that she wasn't with them. Once she did, she smiled sheepishly back at him.

"Hrmm… She's gone." Rukia admitted.

Ichigo blew up at her, having scolding words ready to yell. "What's with that cavalier attitude?!"

She turned away from, but even so, he didn't need to see her face to tell that she was confident in knowing her daughter. "Don't worry, She's a soul reaper! With mere humans as her opponents, she's sure to come out on top!"

Ichigo didn't like the sound of that. Why would she be fighting humans? More importantly, why the heck did she disappear! "So she's some bully that enjoys picking on helpless humans? Go frickin' find her for crying out loud!"

Upstairs, Ichigo and Orihime's son, Kazui was hanging around in Yuzu's room. A black, orb full of reiatsu started to manifest near the other side of the room. Bewildered and curios, the young boy crawled towards it, reaching his hand out—

He touched it. The second he did, it dispersed to nothing. The feeling of the reiatsu it had was gone as well. Kazui was confused. He thought it was going to be something cool, but it turned out to be nothing. It was disappointing.

From behind him, another presence of reiatsu came. He looked over his shoulder to see who it was. "Who's there?"

Sitting on a desk, it was a girl that looked to be his age. She was in a soul reaper uniform, pointing her Zanpakuto at him with a smug face. "Abarai Ichika. A soul reaper apprentice!" Whoever this boy was before her, he couldn't be anything more than just a regular-human-boy-simpleton. "And you are?"

"Me?" Kazui found her to be odd. First of all, he didn't know what she meant by soul reaper apprentice. "I'm Kurosaki Kazui." He smiled an innocent look. From the looks of it, she already seemed like a full soul reaper to him. He was too. "I'm kind of a soul reaper!" Kazui manifested his soul reaper uniform and Zanpakuto on him, over his sweater.

Ichika was appalled. Her eyes went bug wide. She couldn't believe that someone like him could manage to be on her standard. No. He was above her standard. He was a… soul reaper… not an apprentice. Ichika just couldn't believe it. "WHAAA?!" There's no way. How could it be possible? Her mom told her that they were visiting the world of the living to meet human friends. Last time she was told the rules and requirements of being a soul reaper— _humans_ —were not able to meet them.

So what exactly was the meaning for this mockery?!

"Something wrong?" Kazui asked her, seeing the frozen look on her face. He stood to his feet.

Just as he did so, she hopped off the desk and was in his face within a second. Her sword pointed down while her free hand pointed accusingly at him. She wasn't accepting it. _Him_. "You're lying!"

Kazui's brows creased. "What? No. Look," He shifted his body for her to get a better view of his Zanpakuto. "I even have a sword."

That made her livider. " _Zanpakuto_!"

There was a moment of pause. Kazui's brow raised as he tilted his head to the side, thoughtfully responding, "Aren't they the same thing?"

She shoved her finger at him more aggressively. "Listen! There's only one way to settle this." Backing up, giving him space, she folded her arms. Her confident smirk back on her face. "You and me. A hollow extermination competition. Right. Now."

That didn't sound like a good idea. He's only seen 3 hollows his entire life. Those times were only when he hung out with Yoruichi. Though, she never let him fight them. She always would take care of it. "But why? What are we settling?" Kazui didn't care about it much. He didn't know what she was so riled up for.

"To see who's the real soul reaper here!" She explained.

Kazui still didn't understand. "But we both are—"

"Shut it, soft eyes! Let's go." Putting her sword back in its sheath, she didn't allow him anymore protest and grabbed hold of his hoodie. Little did they know, they weren't alone in the room.

"Hey, who's making all this racket in here!" Kon's voice rung out. The small stuffed animal poked his head into view above the edge of the bed. He must've been pulling himself up to get on the top. Once he did so, he stood, arms bended to his side in a defiant stance. Kon crossed his eyebrows at the two kid soul reapers. The girl he didn't recognize. "Who are you, girlie?" Then, as if a light bulb went off, he stared at them both with a surprised, proud clarity. "Oh. I get it. Already pulling in a girlfriend, huh, Kazui? You sly kid. Nothing like your father, thank god for you."

His hand going up to his head, Kazui showed an innocent face, with a slight laugh at Kon's assumption. Ichika didn't find his words as funny, however. Her cheeks were puffed, blushing heavily and her fist were bawled. She clearly looked uncomfortable and upset with what he said. Kazui noticed this.

Finally, she blew up at Kon, "I would never be associated with this simpleton like that! You weird, talking, _thing_!"

One arm bending across his chest, Kon took a step back, gasping at her calling him a ' _thing._ ' "Who you calling ' _thing,_ ' girly? I'm a fierce, stuffed, lion! Tch. Kids."

Ichika got even more frustrated with him. Everything out of his mouth sounded utterly stupid and annoying. She doesn't have time to waste on a _lion thing_. Kazui and her have an important matter to settle. But they couldn't leave then. Not with it witnessing them.

She had to get rid of him.

Kon didn't like the sudden, dark, serious look in her eyes. It was scaring him. She started moving for him. He moved back each step she took. "Hey. What's up with you? Stop. Get back." Ichika grabbed him, making sure to cover his mouth as he yelled out. "Ayeph! Lemp meh houh!" His pebble toy eyes looked to Kazui for help, only to find a look of apology. Kon shook aggressively. " _Mmmmmmm_!"

* * *

In the soul society, in squad 12's Research and Development department, Akon was looking around for the Captain. His actions didn't go unnoticed by Hiyosu, who was by the computer screens, sitting down. Hiyosu turned in his chair toward him.

"Huh? Where did the captain vanish off to?" Akon wondered aloud. Then he remembered, his hand going up to his head as if placing the memory there.

"Ummm. I hate to break it to you," Hiyosu started, "But I think he went to investigate the reconstructed sectors."

Akon wasn't informed of this. He turned around to face Hiyosu with lightning speed and the look of confusion. "What for?!"

Hiyosu gave him an at lost tone. "If you, the vice-captain, are in the dark, then how am I supposed to know?"

Well… he had a point. A point that only made him feel none important. Akon turned away. He side eyed him, kind of down hearted. "Geh… Fine. I guess I'll go call him back here myself…" Or give him a taste of his own respect. Not tell him a darn thing…. No. No. He couldn't do that. He couldn't risk not telling him a possible serious situation like this.

"Did something happen?" Hiyosu asked.

Akon could hear the underline worry in his voice. After ten years of peace and nothing stirring up to ruin it, no one breathing hoped for it to suddenly change. Akon looked at the reiatsu scanner. He couldn't help, but feel as if, something was beginning to stir. And not in their favor. "Not sure yet… We're getting very strange readings on our sensors… that look nearly identical to the ones… Yhwach's reiatsu emitted 10 years ago…"

Hiyosu stilled. Letting the words sync in. He felt as if everything was starting to feel different. The feeling of a peaceful time… slipping. "I think… you may have to inform the captain-commander."

The readings on the scanner spiked higher… Akon, with a look of sadness, faced him. "Unfortunately. I think you're right."

Akon requested a meeting with the commander. He was granted the meeting within a short amount of time. In the captain's meeting room, Akon stood in the middle of two separate line of captains.

Yamato's closely observing eyes focused passed Akon, for only a second, noticing that a certain captain was missing from the meeting. He grunted. "Where is the other captain Kuchiki?"

All the captains briefly gazed their eyes at the empty spot. Toshiro spoke up to answer. "I overheard her speaking with my lieutenant. She said she was going to the world of the living for a family occasion."

Yamato didn't like what he heard. He already knew who this 'family' was. "Let me guess. The Kurosaki's?"

"I believe so. Yes, sir." Toshiro answered.

Yamato would have to have a private talk with her when she gets back. She could not just visit the world of the living anytime she wanted to without informing him of such. He sighed, bringing his attention back to the main concern at hand. Akon and what he had to say. "What is it that we must know, Akon?"

Those eyes bore into his soul. He really wished to break contact, but that would be a coward thing to do. He couldn't look as such in front of the commander. Even the captains. "Commander. There's been a sudden high spike of reiatsu in the world of the living."

The commander didn't seem to see anything wrong or grave with his statement. His expression staying calm all the same. It possibly could be one of the humans that helped them in the war. To be exact. The Kurosaki boy. Leaving Ichigo to stay in the world of the living was a decision of trust. He really hoped his judgement to do so was not wrong. "And what about this is so drastic to request a captain's meeting?"

Get ready for this one. Because even Akon still wasn't. "Well… the high reiatsu, is similar to that of Yhwach's." Every captain in the room became dreadfully alert. A grave reaction was brought out from Yamato. His eyes scanned each captain. Making sure they heard the same words as him. "It… could be just nothing."

"Nothing?" Yamato began to counter. "Nothing, you say. With hope, I assume. This. Certainly cannot just be nothing, Lieutenant." Akon's head lowered a bit at those words. "Where exactly was the reiatsu detected?"

Akon raised his head. Almost hesitant to say. "Near the Kurosaki household."

"I will go," Byakuya, in a calm, firm tone, strongly outburst. He stepped forward as well, turned towards the commander. His eyes told him that he wouldn't take no well. But if those words were to reach his ears, he'd stand down. There was great tension in the room. All of the captains felt it.

Yamato closed his eyes for a moment. Sighing again. Once he opened them, they focused only on Byakuya. "Very well then. Find out what or who it is. However, if it is Yhwach… do _not_ engage him."

Not engaging depended entirely on the situation. Byakuya would follow orders, that is, only until the moment the situation turned towards a more necessary action. If it comes to it. Byakuya hoped not. He hoped Rukia was nowhere near a situation as grave as that. "Yes, commander."

* * *

Kazui and Ichika had successfully snuck out the house. They were quickly moving around the city, searching for any hollows. It seemed as if there wasn't much going on in activity that day.

Which upset Ichika. They came to stop, midair. "Where are all the hollows?!"

Kazui shrugged. "I've been told that there haven't been many lately after the great war."

Ichika heard what he said, but didn't at the same time. She wouldn't accept that this competition would have to come to an end. It didn't even start! Frowning, she turned to him, "I guess—"

"I know." Kazui had an idea. He really didn't understand why this was so important to her. Whatever the reason, he wanted to help her settle it. And so she could finally calm down. _Way_ down. He pointed his index finger up in a matter of fact way, "If we use some of our reiatsu at a constant pace, it should attract some hollows."

She was listening. "How do you suggest we do that?"

Kazui smiled at her. "We race. In super speed. You know, that flash step technique."

Her face falling in sadness, her brows raised in a surprise. "…You can Shunpo?"

His hand raised to his head again, "Well yeah. Can't you?"

Her fist was bawling, but she relaxed them. Her head went low. No. She couldn't Shunpo. She would have to master Hoho first, and she's far from learning that. How did this kid master Hoho and Shunpo? There should be no reason that he has already.

But she had to accept it.

"I lose." She spoke finally. Her voice not trying to hide her sadness in the slightest.

The sun was setting above them. An orange glow cascaded them. Kazui loss his smile once he realized her change in mood. His brows creased in concern over his soft eyes that focused only on her. She looked as if she had something important taken away from her. There was also the sound of a sob. "Are you crying?"

Her head snapped up at him, angered, "No! It's just the dusty wind in my eyes!" She strongly denied. Even though there was no wind. Even though they were high in the air, with no dust around them whatsoever… "Anyway, let's get out of here and head back—"

" _Ohh_. Why leaving so soon?" A dark, sinister voice said.

Ichika and Kazui's eyes widened. They both heard that voice, making them shiver inside. However, they could not see who the voice belonged to. Ichika didn't need to see it, though. She didn't need her eyes to tell her what she could feel. It was a strong hollow… that found them.

Ichika reached for the hilt of her sword, "Kazui, it's a hollow—" Before she could pull out her sword, something invisible grabbed it quick from its sheath before her. Ichika's Zanpakuto was then tossed away. Her eyes following the sword in horror until it was out of view.

Her face then received a striking blow by something that felt vine like, sending her flying back a short way. On her side, still managing to keep herself in the air, she glared hatefully at where she felt the hollow was. Right to the side of her.

"Now, now. Kids shouldn't be playing with sharp objects like that, don't you know? Especially a pretty girl like you. You could hurt yourself with it." The hollow chuckled deep, scornful.

"Get away from her!" Kazui yelled. He held his Zanpakuto firmly within his small hands. His eyes were not soft anymore, but hardened as he glared at the none seeable hollow. Kazui charged for him, relying on the feeling of its reiatsu to guide him. Slicing his sword, wild and quick, and constantly hitting nothing but air, Kazui heared the hollow laugh at him. Ichika could only watch. She was useless.

Kazui slashed down again, this time with more force out of frustration, but his sword was gripped by something. It raised his sword up along with his hands that still held on, trying to pull the sword away. The hollow laughed again, loudly. "Whoa, there. You know, if any of those swings, manage to hit me somehow, you just might have scratched me." A strong jab at Kazui's stomach sent him flying back without his sword. The hollow tossed his away. "This is great! I just love kids. And you kids, are really looking like the best to me. And that's saying a lot, since, you know, I've killed a lot of 'em. Never killed two soul reaper kids, though!" His voice ground out darker. "Never experienced the taste."

Kazui got on his knees. He was really starting to hate the sound of that hollow's voice. His fist bawled tight. Looking up to Ichika, he sees her struggling against some type of invisible restraints. His brows creased heavily.

 ** _You're so weak._**

Another voice said from within him. Kazui stilled… He feared the thought of there being another hollow he couldn't see.

 ** _And stupid. How can you not tell who this voice belongs to? Just guess who._**

Ichika continued to fight against the restraints. Her heart rate was sped up. She was scared. She didn't want to, and hated the fact that she did, but her eyes desperately shot to Kazui.

"Oh, don't look to orange kid over there for help little missy. He can't—" The hollow stopped his words, when he realized that something felt different about Kazui. He was standing up, and his eyes were staring at him as if he was looking directly at him. His _eyes_. Even more unsettling, there was an underline darkness taking over Kazui's eyes. The hollow was finally brought to seriousness then. "What the hell…"

Ichika saw it as well. The change in his eyes. The change in his reiatsu. It was starting to feel like… a hollow?

In a flash, a blur of a person sped by Kazui, hitting him on the neck to knock him out. His body went limp and was hauled over the shoulder of no other than Yoruichi. She went down to a roof and laid him there. His bangs wild on his face, she brushed them aside gently. Eyeing the boy sadly. "Sorry I wasn't here sooner."

Ichika was looking down at the sight, surprised. She didn't know who the lady was, but she seemed to know Kazui. The hollow ground out an upset groan the second Yoruichi Shunpo'd back by them. "Who the hell are you, lady?!" The hollow seethed at her. "These are my kids."

Yoruichi showed a raised brow, with a smirk. "Ah, pretty sure they're not." Before the hollow could yell in anger anymore, she sent a punch straight for his face. Ichika winced at the sound of the hard blow and blast of air the followed after it.

From wherever the hollow was—

No. Ichika could see him. He was made of vines, and few muscles that made up his lower body. Vines in the form of a hand held his face, now dripping of blood. His hollow mask had many differed out lines of cracks. he sounded to be hurting bad and looked just as so. "Damn it. Damn it. What the hell man!?"

"You see," Yoruichi started, ignoring his annoying cries, "these kids belong to dear friends of mine. You were going to kill them, right?"

"Oh," The hollow gargled out, "aren't you just damn smart. What else was I going to do? The soul of kids is what I live for, lady. And I'm still going to kill those kids. Eat their souls. And laugh at the devastated look on your face before I kill you."

Yoruichi shook her head once. "That's," She flashed in front the hollow, her left leg raised high, ready to kick the hell out of him, "Not going to happen."

The hollow had no time to brace himself before the kick struck his hollow mask, shattering it and his entire being. There was the faint yell of his anger just before he completely came to an end.

Ichika couldn't believe what she just witnessed. It was amazing. She wore a look of admiration on her face, but it was quickly changed too guilty and sheepish once Yoruichi's scolding eyes focused on her.

* * *

After finding their Zanpakutos, Yoruichi had brought the two kids back to the house. Kazui had been startled awake by the loud, angered yell of his father. Both kids had gotten an earful of scolding by their parents after Yoruichi had told them what happened. Ichika admitted to what they were trying to do outside the house. Kazui cut her short before she admitted that it was all her idea to have the competition. He showed her a smile, and for the first time, she returned it. In that moment, Ichika had to let herself acknowledge that…

He wasn't so bad.

The sun almost fully set, all of Ichigo's friends had said their goodbyes and gone, except for Rukia, Renji and Ichika. Ichigo, Orihime and Kazui stood outside with them, talking.

Unknown to them, Kenji stood upon a building, watching them say their goodbyes to each other. He then looked towards Rukia, who hugged Ichigo for a brief moment. Kenji sighed. "To think that one variable changes everything." He then spots the smaller orange head and smiles. "Huh… to think we are half-brothers. Even though, I'm not from this realm."

He then sensed another presence next to him…

And of course a sword to his neck. Kenji exhaled. Couldn't his mission go a little smoother than this? All he needed to do was hand Ichigo the Quincy pentacle. It sounded simple enough to him in his head. But even then, when he really thought about it, convincing Ichigo that: 'Hey, I'm your son from another realm, and by the way, Yhwach took over and turned everything to shit, all 'cause you married Rukia. Also I need you to take this Quincy pentacle.'

Yeah… no, not that simple.

"Who are you?" Asked a stoic man. Kenji recognized him to be Byakuya. Well he seemed pretty much the same in personality in that realm.

Kenji closed his eyes a brief moment, annoyed with the situation. "There is no need to kill me Uncle—" Maybe he shouldn't have let that slip… He could see the confusion cross Byakuya's untrusting eyes. Kenji looked over to Ichigo while showing the Quincy pentacle on his wrist. "—because I am only here to hand this to him."

Skeptical of it, Byakuya eyed it. "Hand it over. I shall give it to him."

Kenji wasn't sure if he could trust Byakuya to actually pass it on to Ichigo. But he knew if didn't, the blade at his throat might find its way to slicing him. "Fine. Here." He took the pentacle off his wrist, handing it over to him. He really hoped the pentacle would find its way to him. Sadly, he knew his Uncle would show the pentacle around to other eyes before round circling it back to Ichigo. That's if those other eyes allow him. This really wasn't how this was supposed to pan out. Kenji tapped the band on his other wrist. The action didn't go unnoticed by Byakuya, who then adjusted the sword at a more threatening angle. Talk about paranoid… "And now I'm going, so…" Kenji began to say.

However, Byakuya's eyes told him that he was nowhere near finished investigating him. "Wait, you called me uncle. I do not even know you. Who are you truly?"

"As I have said, you are my uncle. Just… not under the circumstances of this universe. There are the constants and the variables, and I am a product of one variable." _Yeah. Let that jumble in your brain for a while,_ Kenji thought. He smirked. He doubted that it would make sense to him anytime soon. "Figure the rest out." He then disappeared through a gargantuan like portal.

Greatly at a lost to what just happened, Byakuya put his Zanpakuto back in its sheath. The Quincy pentacle still in his hand, he raised it for a better look. Kenji's words echoed in his mind. _'Figure the rest out.'_

* * *

In a bathroom in the house, behind the toilet, Kon was there, taped to the back of it, slightly touching the floor. He struggled wildly to break free, tears streaming down his face. He cried out in his thoughts, _Why does stuff like this always have to happen to meeeee!?_


	2. Chapter 2

**_6 years later_**

Kazui Kurosaki. 14 years old. Part time high schooler. And…

"Kurosaki! You're doing it again!" A guy yelled on the soccer field. Kazui looked up, seeing the ball flying above his head. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion for him. His teammates around him panicked that he would miss the opening to receive the ball. Their opponents slowed in their hustle to surround him. Smug looks on their faces. Clearly they thought he was going to let this moment pass him by. Clearly they thought the game was going to end tied, 2 to 2.

Bouncing on the ground, the ball was getting away from him, heading to the goalie. Kazui focused. His team was relying on him. The ball was kicked to him for one reason only, and that reason was to—

Dropping slow, sliding on his side, he kicked the ball to the right to his teammate and friend, Ryuki. Ryuki dived, and with the use of his head, hit the ball in the net past the goalie.

 _—_ _Score!_

The crowed watching the game that supported their team went wild. Kazui's teammates tackled him and Ryuki, full of joy and yelling to the sky. Their opponents hung their heads low. They were stunned and nearly stricken to tears. And some actually did cry. And some held it back with frowns. At the very last moment on the field, both teams acknowledged each other and left the field.

After getting cleaned up and reminiscing the game with his team, Kazui went back out to the field. He remembered the feeling he got that made him lose sense of awareness, stop his track of mind.

He felt a hollow. Somewhere nearby…

"You almost lost the game for your team, because you just couldn't ignore it for one moment." She said.

Kazui exhaled, smiling as he turned around to face Ichika. He wondered why she was there, standing before him. Maybe she just got done from her rounds around the town. Maybe she took care of that hollow? "Hey to you, too, Ichika. I guess you watched the game?"

"Just that final part of it. I found my way here when I was doing my rounds. Figured I'd stick around to see if you'd lose or not. I surely thought you guys were, anytime they relied on you with the ball for the final seconds." She teased him.

His button was pushed slightly, but he didn't let it show. He was the best player on the team, of course they'd trust it to him! She made it sound like he sucked… "I did pass it."

"I didn't get to stick around long enough to see that." She said with a hint of disappointment.

Kazui knew the reason why she couldn't stick around. It was the same reason he zoned out in that very important moment in time. The hollow. She knew very well that he understood why, and so he didn't bother to clarify or ask her too. "It is your job."

Ichika looked defeated as he suddenly threw her arms up out of frustration. "I _knooow_! But out of all the moments? Seriously, hollows have great timing."

Kazui closely observed her, his eyes noticing beyond the playful outer layer she showed him, she was honestly exhausted of fighting hollows for the day. It was weird… A lot of hollows have been showing up more recently than compared to years ago, when only 1 hollow would show up per week. Now, there were about 4 hollows every day… Ichika was assigned by the soul reaper academy to doing rounds for training. Her and a couple of other soul reapers that were her team in the assignment. She only has one more month of doing this. Afterwards, he might not see her for a long time. When she first joined the academy, he didn't see her for 2 years. She just recently popped back into his life. She'll just as easily leave.

A smirked took over his soft features. "Hmmm. Care to play a one-v-one? You seem like you could use some fun. And the butt kicking."

His confident, playful jab reached her ears, made her almost want to laugh. "Shunpo allowed?"

He nodded. "Shunpo allowed."

"Then you're on!"

Kazui had got a soccer ball from the locker room. He kicked it to the middle of the field. Ichika stood waiting with her arms crossed for him to do the honors. Rolling the ball back on top of his right foot, he lightly tossed it up, then kicked it up to his chest, and then sent the ball flying high above them with the last kick.

Ichika had zero hesitation. At the blink of an eye, she was no longer in front him, but by the ball in the air, getting ready to kick it straight for the goal. Kazui reacted quick, stepping back in a quick flash to the goal. His intention was to stop it by grabbing or blocking it, but the ball was darting towards him at a scary speed.

He was not going to back down.

And so got knocked down with a strong blow back into the net once he received the ball in his hands. His hands stung and had a shade of red to them. She really went all out on the first go.

Ichika flashed by him, laughing. "Doesn't that still count? Technically the ball still went in. You and the ball."

Kazui smiled at her, letting the ball roll out his hands. "Okay. Now that you got that off your chest…"

Her laughing came to an abrupt halt as she stared at him seriously then. It hit her like the speed of the ball that hit him. She felt better. And he knew she wasn't before…

"Let's play for real now?" He asked her.

A small, thankful smile slipped. "Fine. I'll beat you playing it the boring way as well!"

He laughed loudly then. "Ichika, you know you can't dribble at all! That's the only reason why you find the normal way boring."

She snapped at him in embarrassment, slightly pouting. "Shut up, soft eyes!"

His laughing died down a bit. His gaze found the ball.

He's missed this.

They played till the sun completely went down. A full moon hung over them. Kazui had won each round playing soccer the normal way against Ichika. Like he said, she couldn't dribble at all, so every time she had the ball she would either nearly trip over it or do trip over it when trying to juke him out. It was honestly too easy for him, and he did actually offer to play their last game with Shunpo, but Ichika having high pride and determination wouldn't accept the offer. In their last game, she scored on him.

Walking back to his home, they talked about what they've been up to.

"How's the soul reaper academy been for you?" He asked her with the touch of wonder, to hype up the fact of it.

She took a moment to respond, thinking about it. When she first joined, she thought it was going to be a piece of cake. Her mom and dad did try to warn her it wouldn't be a million times, but she didn't really hear them. Not once. But boy did she hear her instructor's loud voice yelling at her when she would badly screw up a Kido spell. "In the beginning it was really tough, I admit… The training regimen was torment, and could run any human into the grave to try again in their soul form…"

That sounded really terrible. Kazui was glad he didn't have to go through the soul reaper academy. Though… his training with Yoruichi and Kisuke was no park walk either. "That sounds really bad, Ichika."

She didn't hold back on the blunt, dry response at remembering it clear as day. "It definitely was." The memory still gave her chills and gratefulness it was behind her. "But, I got through, because you know me, soft eyes. I don't back down from anything!"

"Right."

"Now mainly I'm just doing a bunch of training runs and drills. And these rounds with my squad—" She stopped suddenly, her expression going grim with guilt. "Crap… I forgot to report back to them. They're probably so pissed with me."

Kazui chuckled. "I'm sure they headed back without you by now. But, you may be in deep trouble when you head back."

She didn't want to think about it. She knew she would be… Ichika started walking beside him again. "On a different note, besides soccer, what have you been up to? Are you still training with that cat lady and weird guy with the hat?"

"Yoruichi and Kisuke, you mean?" She nodded. "Yeah. I am. It's been nothing but a nightmare…" Kazui wanted that last part to come out sounding like a light joke, but he didn't do it well enough.

Ichika heard and felt the weight behind it. She wondered if he was okay, if something was wrong that he was keeping from her. He kept his eyes forward so she wouldn't be able to read further into it by looking him in the eyes.

His eyes. She remembered then, that time six years ago when they first met and got in a bad situation with that stupid hollow. There was a change in his eyes. Dark and hollow like. She never forgot. She never brought it up either. To spare him and drop it, she pretended like she couldn't tell at all, and let a small, light laugh go. "Guess we're both being put through the ringer."

He finally looked at her then, but whatever sadness he bared behind those soft eyes of his had already been put away. "Yup." He stopped walking, realizing they arrived at his house.

The second they entered the front door and before Kazui could get his 'I'm back' speech out, Ichika was tackled by Orihime into tight hug. His mom was very glad to see her and expressed it fully.

"I knew it! I told Ichigo it was you with Kazui." Orihime said giddily, all smiles.

Ichika smiled. "Yeah. Hey Inoue."

Orihime pulled back then, a childish frown on her face. She held a finger up. "No, no, no! I've told you this already, Ichika. Call me Orihime. You're family."

Ichika nodded. "Okay. Orihime."

"Awwww! You're just so adorable! Come on, I just finished dinner." Orihime guided her to the dining area. Just a split second before she was out of his view, Ichika looked back at Kazui with an out of place look.

After Kazui took his shoes off, Ichigo approached him as he stepped further into the house. "So Ichika is back around, huh?" Kazui showed him a glad expression, but hidden with solemn. Ichigo already knew what his son was feeling. He pulled him into a one arm hug. "Just enjoy the time you have with her."

* * *

 ** _6 years ago_**

In the soul society, Byakuya reported back to the head captain with what he discovered. It was a private meeting. Yamato looked to be ready to hear the worse, even when Byakuya hadn't said a word yet.

"What did you find out, Captain Kuchiki?"

That apparently he has a nephew he never knew existed… Last time he checked, Rukia didn't have a son. Unless, he has long lost siblings somewhere? "The spike of reiatsu belonged to an unknown man. He appeared to be a very young soul reaper of some sort, with a Zanpakuto, but he didn't where a uniform."

"You addressed him?"

"Yes. He said he was here to give Kurosaki Ichigo," Byakuya revealed the Quincy pentacle to the head captain, "this Quincy pentacle."

Yamato stared intently at it. "Did he say why?"

"No. He left…" In a portal… "before I could investigate him more." Byakuya left out the part of him leaving in a portal. He didn't know what to make of it. Maybe it was a means of teleportation somewhere. He didn't see him use his Zanpakuto to do it, but the band on his wrist, he would assume. There just wasn't a clear explanation too what Byakuya experienced. The man he encountered could potentially be dangerous and a threat to them. However… if he was a threat, why would he have anything to do with Kurosaki? Nothing made sense. Figure it out, he said. Impossible.

Yamato exhaled. It was very strange. They had no information on this mystery man, and apparently he had some ties to being a soul reaper. And Kurosaki Ichigo… Yamato did not like to think of the Kurosaki boy actually working with a new potential threat. By the looks on Byakuya's face, he could see that he felt the same, but his reasons to why completely different. Kuchiki Rukia. If Ichigo turned against them, for whatever reason, would she be able to own up to her duties as a captain and fight against him? A sigh escaped him then once the answer hit him harder than any attack received in a battle.

No.

"Do not give Kurosaki Ichigo that Quincy pentacle. He no longer has any involvement with us. And especially if he's found a new involvement with this new comer."

Byakuya gripped the pentacle completely in his hand. "Am I to keep it?"

"Yes. I'm trusting it to you." Byakuya nodded, turned away to leave. "Kuchiki," Yamato called to make him stop suddenly. "Abarai Rukia is not to know of this. Understood?"

Of course he did. "Understood."

 ** _Presently, Soul Society_**

In the Kuchiki manor, Byakuya sat kneeled on the floor in front his deceased wife's sanctuary. His hands together, eyes closed, he prayed for the continuation of peace for her. Wherever she was. Opening his eyes, he took a moment to take in a picture frame of her before standing. Before tearing himself away from the memory of her.

Book cases to the left of him on the other side of the room, he moved close to one section. Byakuya pulled a thick, wide book out. He stared at what was hidden behind it. The Quincy pentacle that he was given. It was hung up, inside against the back wall of the bookcase section. Every time he gazed upon it, his mind could never stop echoing what that young man told him.

 _'_ _Figure the rest out.'_

But what? What was there to figure out? Figure out how he was his nephew? He had asked Rukia before six years ago if there was a child he did not know about. The conversation made no sense to her, and it's not as if he enjoyed asking such a ridiculous question. The taken back, confused, flustered look he received from her was enough self-feeling-stupidity to last him the rest of his remaining life.

Byakuya grabbed the pentacle to observe it better. Why did it need to be in the hands of Kurosaki? Ever since that day, the man never came back. Not a single spike of reiatsu from him. A person would be thankful of that fact. He possibly wasn't a threat to worry about after all. That just meant, whoever he was, will forever be a mystery. Unless… he gives the pentacle to Kurosaki. Maybe it will all become clear.

"Nii-sama," Rukia's voice softly called from behind him. The thought that crossed his mind was an insane one at hearing her. He shouldn't risk it… Rukia went to the side of him. He didn't bother to try to quickly hide the pentacle he held. The second Rukia's eyes laid on it, they widened. She was confused. "Nii-sama, is that…"

"Yes. A Quincy pentacle."

"Why do you have one?" The Quincies were people that brought war to them. Tried to destroy their worlds. Rukia doesn't like to harbor grudges, but… it wasn't possible to think of them nicely anymore, or at a neutral understanding. They loss people. Dear people to their hearts that they will never get back again, because of them. And when it came to Uryu Ishida, she had to admit to herself that there was a time she couldn't think of him exactly the same. She couldn't be around him without remembering he was part of the reason they almost lost everything. But, as the years went on, she moved on from it, and came to peace with accepting him back fully as person to call friend. To see that her Nii-sama has one of their pentacles… really brought out some unpleasant, painful feelings.

"A young man gave it to me, to give to Kurosaki Ichigo." Byakuya looked away from the pentacle then to see how she would react. From the looks of it, confused as he still was about it.

She shook her head. "Young man? What young man? When was this?"

"You were in the world of the living when it happened, but there was a high spike of reiatsu that had a resemblance to Yhwach's six years ago. I was sent to find out what or who it was, and it turned out to be a very strange young man… Apparently he knew Kurosaki, and had come to give this to him."

What Byakuya explained was a lot to take in and process at once. First of all, six years ago!? Why didn't anyone tell her about it after she got back? She's a captain for crying out loud! You would think she had a right to be informed. And second, this man had reiatsu similar to Yhwach? How was that possible? He could've been related to him, maybe. She was in the world of the living and she didn't sense anything wrong. Whoever he was, he must not have been looking for trouble right away. Lastly… How does he know Ichigo and why did he need to give the pentacle to him?

"Another strange thing he told me… He said that I was his uncle." Byakuya waited for her to react to that one. She still seemed normally confused, but in the next few moments, what that meant sunk into her.

"Is that why you asked me if I had a son you didn't know about?!"

"Believe me, I didn't want to ask such an idiotic question… but I honestly don't know how else he could be related to me."

What was he saying to her? She just came to see how he was doing and talk with him, but she got herself into an entirely left field conversation. Six-years-old conversation! "Nii-sama, whoever that man was, he was probably lying to get you confused. And from the looks of it, I think it worked."

"Rukia…" He held out the pentacle to her, "that's why I need you to give this to Kurosaki." As much as he hates to admit it, he couldn't get rid of the feeling that whoever the man was, he wasn't lying about his ties to him. For some reason that he couldn't explain, Byakuya felt he was important to him. He didn't even know the young man.

Rukia hesitated a second before taking the pentacle from him. She wanted to decline it, but she could see the look in Byakuya's eyes, that he needed her to do this. He wasn't asking. This for whatever reason, meant something to him. Whoever that man was, meant something to him. And the need to find out, was something he could not let go.

"Okay."


	3. Chapter 3

Ichika could tell that she was in trouble when she met with her squad again in the soul academy. Tai, Yuki and Kitsu stared at her as if she was dead to them, and not in a dramatic sense, but in a pissed off way. There arms folded, they said nothing to her, just stood firmly in front of her.

She smiled sheepishly. "Hey, guys… what's up with the death glares?"

Yuki was the one to give her a response, fully livid. Her eyes flared. "What's up with our death glares, you say? What's up with that? Guys," She glanced from Tai to Kitsu, "tell Ichika just what is up with our faces!"

Tai and Kitsu both yelled at Ichika loudly, mentally blowing her away. "Our squad got suspended!"

What!? Ichika couldn't believe what she heard from them. What did they do wrong? They had to be the best squad in their class on the Karakura town patrol. Why did their sensei suspend them? "You guys are joking, right?"

Yuki shook her head. "No, Ichika. We really are suspended. For two weeks. Which puts us behind the rest of the other squads."

That couldn't be happening… Ichika felt like she was going to explode. "What did we do?"

"It's not what _we_ did, it's what _you_ did!" Tai air poked at her, frowning. "You ditched us and disappeared! We waited for you to head back, but you never showed up. When we gave up on waiting for you and went back, the sensei chewed us out!"

Kitsu second with the air poking, "He said that we should've never left a squad mate behind and should've searched for you. For some reason, you ditching us was our fault as a team!"

Ichika shrunk low. Her squad and friends were really letting her have it. Not that she can blame them, this was her fault. She never would have thought they'd get in trouble for her not returning back with him, though. She shouldn't have stayed the night by Kazui… Her friends didn't know about him, so she can't up and confess he was the reason she ditched them…

Ichika bowed to them, feeling really guilty. "I'm sorry guys! Really. What I did was stupid. I won't do it again."

Yuki sighed. She raised Ichika to stand up fully. "Okay. Stop that. Whatever the reason was, it was important, right?"

Ichika studied their faces, they didn't have the same upset, grilling look anymore. They were just frustrated with her. "Yeah…"

"Then you are only going to take on half of our assigned chore duty for the next two weeks." Yuki smirked.

Ichika was happy that her friends weren't that upset with her anymore, but hearing chore duty hit her like a ton breaks. Her face fell. "Chores…"

* * *

On the soccer field, Kazui was practicing with his team. The sun was beating him down. Sweat dripped from his face as he took in deep breaths. He stood still with his hands at his sides.

 ** _"_** ** _Kazui duck!"_**

On impulse, Kazui did just that at the yell of the voice and dropped low to the ground quick. Ryuki approached him with a confused, concern face. "Why did you just drop to the ground as if shots were fired?"

"Ah…" Kazui shook his head as if that would get rid of the odd feeling he felt then. "Didn't someone yell for me to duck?"

"I didn't hear anyone tell you to duck." Ryuki said. "Are you okay? The sun getting to you?"

Kazui stood up. He could've swore that someone yelled for him to duck. It was practically in his ear… "Um… not sure, Ryuki."

"Kazui duck!" One of their teammates yelled. The next thing Kazui knew, he was knocked over the head by a soccer ball. Falling to the ground, his teammates surrounded him with worry. The one that kicked the ball wildly without control kneeled by him, frantic. "I'm so sorry Kurosaki! I didn't mean for the ball to strafe like that! Are you okay?" If he was, the faces of his friends should not have been spinning, neither everything around him… Laid out flat, he passed out. "Kurosaki!"

Ryuki pulled him up, looking at him bewildered…

Sometime later, Kazui opened his eyes slightly, seeing a blur of a dim sun light, and a body figure leaning by a window to the left. Getting the feeling of where he was, he realized he was in the nurse's office on one of the beds. Seeing clearly, he sees that it's Ryuki by the window, staring back at him with slight worry.

What exactly happened before then? He was on the field, it was hot as hell, he heard someone say…

 _"_ _Kazui Duck!"_

Well… not hard to piece together what he didn't do. Kazui felt a light pain on the side of his head. He reached his hand to touch it, wincing just slightly. "Can't believe it was a soccer ball I got hit by."

"I can't believe you ducked _waaaay_ too early." Ryuki went straight to the point of his concern.

Oh yeah… that did happen. Kazui didn't know how to explain it. To Ryuki or himself. Maybe his instincts as a soul reaper kicked into overdrive. Warned him. Somehow… "Hey man, I think it's called bad instinct." Kazui joked as he raised up.

Ryuki chuckled, shaking his head. "Whatever you wanna call it, sure. You've… been acting weird lately."

Kazui wasn't expecting to hear that last part from him. Was he being that obvious? A sigh escaped him. "A friend recently came back into my life…" Might as well twist the truth. "I guess it's thrown me out of whack." It wasn't a total fake excuse.

Ryuki's face got a sudden peak of interest at hearing that. He zoned in close to Kazui in matters of seconds. "Wait. A friend. Just a friend? Wait. This friend female?"

Oh no. Kazui just sparked an entire different conversation that he didn't want to talk about either. Everyone in the school always wondered why he didn't have a girlfriend. The worst of them all to pester him about it was Ryuki. Sadly. "Yeah."

"Is she the reason you don't date any of the girls that have major crushes on you? Cause man, if you didn't notice, there are a lot of girls that have major crushes on you."

Nonchalantly, Kazui nodded his head. He made sure to keep his face neutral so that his friend wouldn't see any flicker of serious emotion. "Yeah, I know. That's not hard to miss. And no, she's not the reason. She's… just a close childhood friend."

He either didn't want to buy it or didn't care to buy it. A goofy grin spread on his face as he shrugged. "Okay. Whatever you say, man."

Kazui started to get off the bed. "Yeah. Now—"

"Kurosaki!" A purple haired girl called out. She darted fast towards him and grabbed him in a tight hug. "I heard what happened! Are you okay?" She sounded like she wanted to sob. She pulled away to get a good look at him, golden eyes boring into his.

She was another school friend. They don't really talk much, only when she comes by the soccer field to play with the team sometimes. She must've stopped by and found out that way. He put on a reassuring face. "I'm fine. Just a fly ball."

"Good." She said then. Kazui wasn't prepared for what happened next. The girl put him in a choke hold. Her face no longer worried, but teasing. "You're lucky you didn't get knocked into coma!"

"No way a soft soccer ball could've done that to me!" Kazui chuckled, pretending to struggle to break free of her hold.

Ryuki was in the background, at a lost. "Soft ball that knocked you out…"

Laughing with a bright smile, she let him go. "Glad you're okay. You think you feel well enough to play against me?"

He smiled. "Definitely."

Folding his arms, Ryuki leaned over Kazui's shoulder and said lowly, "Does Mitsuko know about this close friend?"

"Know about who?" She managed to hear.

Kazui elbowed him in the gut, making him double over in a back step. Kazui shrugged.

* * *

Rukia stood in front Ichigo's door. She contemplated whether or not to ring the doorbell. Whether or not she should talk to him about the Quincy pentacle. It was either going to lead to something insightful and good to know, or lead to something awful and destructing. But this was Ichigo. The man she felt she knew better than anyone else. There's no way he could be tied to anything bad. So then it was decided. Rukia drew in all of her resolve. She had to tell him about it.

The door opened wide suddenly. Ichigo stood in front her with a curios face. "Thought I felt you out here. What's up?" Rukia couldn't bring herself to put on a fake, easy going face. Ichigo didn't fail to miss it. He moved aside. "Come in." She did what he said and kept walking till she reached the front room. He was right behind her, arms folded. "What's wrong?"

Rukia was holding the pentacle in her hand. She lifted it up to show it to him. "Not really what's wrong, but…"

"Is that a Quincy pentacle?" His eyes focused solely on it, serious. "Why do you have one?"

"It's for you, Ichigo…" She told him, spitting it out.

It took a moment for Ichigo to register her words. Last time he checked, yes, he was half Quincy, but he never owned a pentacle. The only part of him that he embraced was the soul reaper side of him. "Okay… and who told you this?"

"Nii-sama told me to give this to you. Six years ago he was sent to investigate a high power reiatsu and came across a man that was looking for you. The man gave him this pentacle. He said it needed to be given to you." She briefly explained.

Ichigo was trying his best to stay calm, all while trying to understand everything. The only Quincy he's friends with is Uryu. He wouldn't know why this mystery guy would want to give him this pentacle. Ichigo could see the confusion on Rukia's face, she wanted to hear his response. It seemed like a really big deal to her, or was she expecting it to be a big deal to him? Whatever it was, he had to clear it up. "I have no clue who that guy could've been, and I definitely don't have a clue to what to do with that pentacle."

It looked like relief came over her. She relaxed more. Ichigo took the pentacle from her. "Maybe he was looking for a different Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Ichigo snorted. "Sure as hell not any other explanation…"

Rukia put a hand to her chin as she remembered something else. It made her want to laugh. "Oh, there was another thing that Nii-sama said." Ichigo glanced up to her. "He said, that the man told him he was his nephew."

Ichigo's eyes went wide. " _Rukia_ …" His tone went playful, "you didn't have a kid we all don't know about, did you?"

Frowning, she punched his chest, getting a 'gah' out in response from him. "Shut up. That's the same thing Nii-sama asked—even in front of Renji some years ago!" She boiling in embarrassment at the memory. She still would never understand what gave Byakuya the nerve to ask her that. He couldn't just trust her and not some mystery guy?

Ichigo laughed as he dangled the pentacle. It swung from left to right. Left…

Right.

A bright flash of light erupted from the pentacle. Reiatsu pulsed wildly. Rukia and Ichigo were both put on high alert. Ichigo covered his eyes with his forearm. "What the hell's happening!?"

* * *

 **6 years ago, Second Bleach Realm**

Making it back to his own realm and time, it was currently nightfall. Kurotsuchi was no longer there. He must've left, Kenji concluded. The trip really didn't go as planned. But at least he didn't have to fight his own uncle. He managed to stay calm and hear him out. Though he did keep a sword to his throat… Nothing like nephew and uncle bonding time.

Kenji really hoped that Byakuya gave the pentacle to Ichigo. Even though it was foolish, wishful thinking. It would be better to hope that the pentacle would someday, somehow find its way to him. It was out of his hands. Kenji made fast haste to get home. It was on the out skirts of Karakura town, where less hollows were. The second he got home, the minute he walked in the house, he was greeted by a very disappointed father. His realm's Ichigo kurosaki. Ichigo had a scruffy beard and his hair was long to his shoulders.

Kenji already knew he was in deep trouble. He prepared himself to get an earful of a lecture. "Hey dad."

"Hey to you, too." Ichigo nodded his head to the left. Signaling for Kenji to walk further inside. He did and closed the door behind him. "Tell me why, even when I told you not to, you went ahead and traveled to another realm anyway?"

How. Did. He. Know…

Kenji tried to play it cool. "What? I didn't."

"Yes, you did. I followed you. I saw you leave."

"You followed me?" Kenji was mad at that. Did he really not have any trust in him? Or confidence in him? He was 16! Not a 9-year-old kid anymore that needed protecting. Kenji admits, yeah, he was going behind his dad's back, but… honestly, it was his decision to make, not theirs. "I can't believe you."

"I can't believe you lied to me and your mom. How can we trust you? When you break it?" Ichigo shot back, just as mad with him. "Don't tell me you're not going to do something, and then turn around and do it anyway. I don't want you to agree to what I want; I want you to be honest. At least then, seeing you go against my advisement, isn't as hurtful."

Kenji was ready to snap back. He was ready to state his argument. He expected to still feel angry, but none of that happened. He didn't snap back, he didn't have an argument to state, and he sure as hell didn't feel angry anymore. His dad said he followed him and watched him leave, but he didn't attempt to stop him. No. He let him do what he wanted to in the end. And all Kenji was hearing from his dad was that he only wanted honesty in return for going against him. And Kenji didn't give him that. Kenji's head went low a bit. The frown he wore was no longer for his father, but for himself. "I thought you would try to stop me."

"Well you were wrong. I love you Kenji, and I'll always try to protect you. Even if the only protecting I can do for you now, is by giving insight and advice on what I think you should and shouldn't do. I will never try to control you." Ichigo knew fully well that his son was becoming a man of his own will and thought. He couldn't shelter him from the cruel and dangerous world they live in anymore.

The sound of running and the voice of a little boy was heard approaching them. It was his 9-year-old brother. "Kenji's home?" The small, orange head boy smiled at seeing it was his brother that finally returned. He hugged his brother firmly. "I knew it. Dad said you'd done something stupid and probably gotten yourself killed. I knew there was no way you could be killed and would be back, though. You're the strongest! Well, second strongest to dad."

Kenji looked to Ichigo with an incredulous face that silently said, 'really?'. Kenji chuckled. "What about the captains, Karuchi? I am stronger than them, too?" He asked, walking with his brother to the living room.

"Of course!" Karuchi responded.

Ichigo smiled as he shook his head. Rukia appeared to the side of him then. She punched him hard in the shoulder, getting a "gah" response out of him. Rukia showed him a stern face. "You told him that Kenji was going to die?!"

Ichigo rubbed at his shoulder, letting a light laugh out. Rukia however, wasn't finding anything funny. "I didn't mean it seriously when I said it." Rukia walked away from him. He followed. "Rukia? I was kidding!"

 **6 years later, presently**

Kenji sat in the front room, in front a TV that for some reason was still placed in the house. God knows there hasn't been power in the world for years. His brother Karuchi sat on the couch behind him. "So how much longer do you think it's going to be till dad of the other realm touches the pentacle?"

Kenji sighed. His brother just had to bring that up. Kenji didn't forget about it, but neither was he trying to keep his mind on it. He glanced behind him to look at his brother. "With our luck… the day we die."

Kenji's Zanpakuto was laid on the floor in front of him. There was gleam of light the shined off it, but there weren't any sun rays streaming in the house. Kenji found that very strange. He grabbed his sword, but the second he did, he felt his reiatsu pulse strongly. The next moment… he was unconscious on the floor.

Karuchi leaned closer to look at his brother with a peculiar face. "Brother I think you were right."

If half dead counts.

* * *

Kenji's eyes were closed. When he opened them, he noticed that he was in his inner world. He didn't see his Zanpakuto, though. The only person that was there was… Ichigo. Okay, either his dad somehow found his way into his inner world, or that was Ichigo from the other world that finally touched the pentacle. He'd hope it was the latter.

Ichigo seemed to be completely freaked out, and ready to battle someone. Only problem for him was that he didn't have his Zanpakuto to battle with.

"Um, hey—" Kenji started.

Ichigo whirled around to stare hard at him. "Who are you? Where am I?!"

"Whoa, calm down. You're not in any danger. Seriously. Take it down a notch." Kenji told him in a simple tone. He didn't want Ichigo to get anymore worked up than he was. He wasn't trying to have a brawl with his kind-of-still-father from another world.

Ichigo took in several breaths before finally taking in a deep one to calm himself down somewhat. His face relaxed, but still showed that he didn't trust Kenji. "Who are you?"

That was the highlight question. Who was he? He's Kenji. Ichigo doesn't know that he's the son he doesn't have. He's the son that has to explain to a man from another world that he's his son, and needs his help. It will definitely not go well the first time saying it. Kenji figured the best way to start off explaining it, was to say, "You're not going to believe anything I'm going to say. But please, hear me out with a serious consider that what I'm going to tell you, could possibly be the truth."

Ichigo didn't say anything for a few moments. He got the look that he was ready to face a serious battle. Why did he have to look so serious? He's no different than his dad. Well… they are the same person. He should be used to this. But, even though they look the same, talk the same, glare the same, he was not the same father. There's disconnect in that. It's like talking to a familiar stranger.

"I'm listening. So get to the point." Ichigo told him.

Kenji exhaled. He wondered if it would've played better on his nerves if he would've talked to him in person. _Actual_ in person. "I'm Kenji. Your son, from another world."

The expression on Ichigo's face went stunned. His eyes widened. "You can't be serious…"

"The proof is the very fact you're here. You're in my inner world. Once you touched my Quincy pentacle you were able to connect with my reiatsu. Even though we're from different worlds, since our reiatsu is similar, we're still able to connect. I was worried Kurotsuchi's hypothesis would be wrong, but in the end it actually worked."

"Hold up. Um. You're my son from another world? What do you mean… like another universe or something…?"

It was good he was catching on to that factor. "Yeah. A universe in another realm to be more exact. I needed to talk to you, because I need your help." We. Need your help.

Ichigo took a second to respond. His expression fell to a more accustomed one of the situation. Though, Kenji could still tell it was a lot for him to take in. "My supposedly son from another realm, went through the trouble of crossing to my realm to get my help… Why? What happened?"

And here was the kicker. "You didn't marry Inoue Orihime. That's what happened. Everything in your realm, happened in mine as well, but in different times. The war with Yhwach was won, but… you and Rukia got together. Which, screwed things up and—"

"Time out!" Ichigo was making the time out sign with his hands. He was really taken for a shocking loop then. He pointed a shaking finger at himself. "Me—me and…"

"Rukia. Yeah."

Ichigo pointed at Kenji, approaching him slowly. That was a step up in progress. "Rukia is your mother…"

"Yeah… and you're my father."

Ichigo's pointing hand went to cover his mouth instead. "Oh my god… so that… when you told Byakuya… that you are his nephew…"

"Oh, you know about that? He told you?"

Ichigo heard what he and Rukia last talked about play back in his head. A full three times in a dizzying echo effect.

 _'_ _Rukia…' His tone went teasing, "you didn't have a kid we all don't know about, did you?'_

 _"_ _Shut up. That's the same thing Nii-sama asked. Even in front of Renji some years ago!"_

Ichigo's hand fell. "Holy shit."

"I know this is a lot to take it right now. But I just needed to tell you. I needed to asked you. This is big. One hell of a risk. But… you are the only one that can save my world. My family. Everyone. In my world—I am a variable amongst the constant's and other variables. My existence is only thanks to one event that did not happen here. my life is meaningless to you, since obviously, as the fact stands, I am not the son you nurtured all these years. Even so, would you be able to live with the fact that in some other world you son died? In an attempt to save the universe? And as an added fact… Yhwach will do the same here. I don't know how, but he's been able to cross worlds. He's been reliving the process of the war, killing his old self, in order to make himself stronger. Pretty soon. Not even soon. Hell, now. He's unstoppable…" Ichigo had no words. Everything that was said to him took him completely by storm. His wasn't sure how to weather It. "That's all I'm going to say for now. I just needed to tell you this. If you decide to help before things are too far gone for any of us. Every realm. I will tell you more. But for now, make your choice father, and I shall return to your world in two days to hear your answer."

Ichigo finally managed to utter words out of his mouth. "You're going to show up in person?"

Kenji nodded. "I did the last time. You just didn't see me." He turned his back to Ichigo. His inner world began to crumble and fall apart. "This is goodbye till then."

On edge, Ichigo reached his hand out to Kenji. "What a minute!"

But in a blink, the only person he was reaching his hand out to was a worried Rukia.


	4. Chapter 4

Ichigo had been standing frozen in the same position for a good half a minute. At that point, Rukia was getting worried. She shook him. Shoved him.

Slapped him.

"Ow!" His hand shot up to his reddened cheek as he glared at her. "What the hell, Rukia?" That brought him back down to earth and got his attention for sure. Shaking his head. He came down from feeling anger at her slapping him and took a seat. Once his mind settled, everything that happened crashed down on him, making him weak in his knees.

Rukia waited to hear him respond to her repeated question. "What happened… Ichigo?"

What happened… Explaining it was a lot to make sense of. Ichigo couldn't wrap his head around it. In that moment, he felt that the pentacle was in his palm still. A slight shiver ran through his body. The mystery man was not so much a mystery man. His name was Kenji. He apparently…

"I have a son…" Ichigo finally said something to her.

It didn't sound like anything new to her, though. She folded her arms, arching a brow. "Yeah, you do… Kazui."

Ichigo's head shook again, eyes closing tight for a second. "No. I mean. Yeah, I know I have a son. Kazui. I mean, that guy…"

"What guy?"

"The mystery guy! The guy that gave Byakuya this pentacle! I somehow zoned out into his inner world and met him…"

Rukia was not following at all. How was he related… to…

No.

Oh…

Slowly, but surely, the realization was hitting Rukia hard. Like an oncoming train from afar, but for some reason she's just standing there like a dear in the headlights, knowing, the closer it gets, it's obvious she would die…

Well. If she was alive. But she's dead, so would it be like an oncoming strong hollow? Rukia's mind was running far off track. Her eyes widened. She swallowed hard. "Oh…"

Ichigo saw the look in her eyes. He knew that she finally caught on. He nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

"He said Byakuya was his uncle…" Her finger slowly raised to point at Ichigo. "And now you're saying he's your son…" She pointed at herself. "Oh god… No, no, no, no! What?!"

"I know!"

"You! And me?!"

"Oh god…"

They both were on the verge of panic attacks. Rukia lost feeling in her legs. She collapsed to the floor.

The door to the house opened. Kazui strolled in, whistling. Seeing his father and Rukia, who he acknowledges as an aunt, in total distraught, he paused. Concern came over his soft eyes. "Ah… something wrong?"

Ichigo bobbed his head up. A nervous chuckle rising from him as he made eye contact with Kazui for a moment. "I am… not entirely sure."

"Aunt Ru?"

"Don't worry about me, Kazui. I'm just… remembering something… about this floor…"

Hearing both their responses, and still noticing their off-body language, he knew something serious was wrong. But dangerous serious? That he wasn't sure of. Rukia and Ichigo always fought a lot. Maybe they were having a recoil from fighting? Whatever it was, if it was serious, they'd eventually tell him more. If not… he'd start hearing them argue in no time. "Okay…" He started heading upstairs to his room, but stopped short. "Oh, Aunt Ru. Are you going to stay long?" He wanted to show her how much progress he made in his soul reaper abilities since the last time she visited them.

Orihime entered the house then, a happy smile on her face with a grocery bag. Suddenly, it was like a sword sliced through Rukia, making her jump up in a startle. Orihime's eyes connected with Rukia, who couldn't hide the guilty look on her face. Rukia didn't know why. Why did she feel guilty? She didn't do anything. She knows that and yet, everything that she just found out was screwing with her on a high level.

Rukia made a fast break to leave out the door. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

The second Ichigo heard the door close, he sighed. Orihime went close to him. He didn't have to look at her to know she showed a worried face. "Ichigo. Is she okay?"

Kazui had stuck around. He couldn't tell himself it was possibly nothing anymore.

Serious, Ichigo looked at Kazui, then Orihime. What he was going to say was not going to settle well with her. "We need to talk."

"What's wrong?" Orihime asked. Kazui stepped away from the steps, making himself more in the conversation.

Ichigo hesitated.

"Dad?"

It had to be said eventually, so get it over it, was the mind set running through him. "Apparently, there's going to be a big threat to us soon." He paid close attention to the change in Orihime and Kazui's expressions. Orihime's eyes went a bit dull, while Kazui for the first time, had an unsure look of what to make about information like that.

"Who told you this? Was it the soul society?" Orihime had lost all calm in her voice.

Ichigo rubbed at the top of his head a single time. "Uh… no."

"No? Then how…"

"Okay, I'm going to say something very unbelievable, and please don't freak out."

"If it's unbelievable why would you say it…?" Orihime countered.

At this point, Ichigo was subconsciously stalling. He didn't want her to read too much into the fact of him and Rukia being… together in another world. But how could he hope for her to not do what he was already doing? He shouldn't be reading too much into it. Knowing that wouldn't change anything that's real in his reality. His life. He dated Orihime. He fell in love with her. He married her. They had a child together that they both love greatly. One of the happiest memories of his life. He didn't date Rukia. He didn't marry her. He didn't have a child named Kenji with her, and he doesn't…

Well he does. He does but not like that!

Oh, god…

Orihime gently put a hand on his shoulder. Kazui and her both were seeing him unravel in complete stress over something. "I'm guessing," Kazui started, reading the tension, "that the rest of this conversation should be without me…" He waited a moment, receiving a nod from Orihime, and then after left upstairs to his room.

Once alone, Orihime sat next Ichigo. "Ichigo, pull yourself together. Talk to me."

He took a deep breath. _Her_ touch always made him calm. "I was told this by my son from another world…."

Give it a minute. Let it sync into her. Confusion came over her heavy. She almost looked upset. "What are you saying? Kazui from another world told you this? Another world? What?"

And this was the part she wasn't going to like. "Not Kazui. Umm. His name is Kenji."

"Okay." She nodded slowly once. "In another world we have a different son named Kenji…"

"Not we." Her face remained frozen with confusion. It didn't hit her fully in the moment he said it. But after a minute of running everything back, she understood and looked away.

"He's not mine." Her eyes went back to him, a slight, uncomfortable smile on her face. "Okay, so you were with another woman before me. What's the big deal about that?"

Ichigo grabbed her hand. He needed her to stay leveled with him and not go off the fritz. Not like him. "Ah… In this other world, I'm still with her. Married."

Smile falling, her eyes went wide with disbelief. "What, am I dead in this other world or something?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't fill me in on everyone's occupation in that world. Only the one that mattered—"

Crap. Wrong words. Wrong choice of words. He was afraid to look her in the eyes. The second he did, she was clearly hurt. Upset. "My occupation in another world doesn't matter to you? But you and this mystery woman does?"

" _Orihime_ , please, that's not what I meant. I just meant—"

"I need some time to think about all of this." She stood up. "It's clear that you do as well." She left him then.

Great. Great! Groaning, he ran his hands down his face. He chuckled bitterly. Yeah, two days to think of it all.

* * *

 **Second Bleach Realm**

On the floor, Kenji shot up, nearly colliding with his brother, Karuchi. Karuchi fell back on his butt, yelling, "Ahhh, you scared me!"

Kenji scared him? Really… He was the one that was hovering over his unconscious form. How could he not have been prepared for him to wake up? Kenji shook his head at him. "Why were you kneeling over me?"

"Mom said to make sure you still showed signs of living," He explained. "I gave my full effort."

Kenji looked around them. Their mom wasn't around. How long had he been out? Talking to Ichigo didn't feel that long… "How long was I unconscious?" Asking that question, he could see it on his brother's face then. He was honestly worried about him.

"For almost a full three hours, Kenji…"

Three hours… Well… As he thought back on the many warnings and precautions that Kurotsuchi went over with him, the potential risk of being temporally in a coma from connecting his soul cross realms was one of them… Lucky for him, it wasn't longer than three hours. "It was expected, don't worry about it."

"Right. If you say so." He looked excited then, "So! What did not-dad-Ichigo say?"

The look of distraught over Ichigo's face came to Kenji's mind. "I don't know his answer yet. I'm giving him time to think it over. Two days."

His brother deflated. "Aw. Two days. _Hey_ …"

Kenji already knew what he was going to ask him. He was going to ask could he tag along, and that was a straight up no. It was already a risk for him to cross over to another realm, he couldn't risk his brother's wellbeing, too. Their mom for sure wouldn't want that. And their dad… Well, he wouldn't approve. Maybe if Karuchi was older…

And so, it begins. He's starting to think like an overprotective adult…

"No." Kenji cut him short.

Karuchi looked to have many words of protest. "Come on, Kenji!"

Kenji stood fully, and slowly… He felt a bit light headed. Also a side effect? "No. Seriously. Forget it." Kenji left him alone.

Karuchi hated that he was being sidelined. Traveling to another world sounded like nothing but fun. In the world he knows, there wasn't a guarantee of living to see the next day. If he got to venture to another world, all would be forgiven for the crappy hand of luck he was dealt. Him and his family… He decided he was going to go to the other world. Whether Kenji approved or not. All he had to do was get that bracelet and easy stuff from there.

Karuchi smirked. Good thing he knew exactly where his brother kept it. He'd leave at night and would be back in the morning before Kenji found out what he'd done.

Waiting an hour, night fully rolled around. Karuchi snuck into his brother's room. Kenji was out for good. Karuchi went to the dresser in the room and pulled open the bottom drawer. A box was the only thing inside. He picked it up and opened it.

Bingo.

Holding up the bracelet, it gleamed in the moonlight. He smiled.

Karuchi left the house, his Zanpakuto strapped to his waist. He left a far distance from the house, just in case there would be a loud noise from the bracelet transporting him. Lucky for him, the coordinates and right timeline was still inputted. "This is going to be awesome."

"What do we have here?" A male voice spoke out loud from above him.

Karuchi felt his heart speed up. This was not going to be awesome. Slowly looking up, Karuchi faced the man. He was a Quincy. What was he doing roaming about out there? They usually don't come down to the world of the living. Too busy enjoying the corrupted world they made their home in the soul society. It took everything for Kenji not to sneer at the man.

"A soul reaper kid?" The Quincy's eyes observed the Zanpakuto at Karuchi's waste. "What are you doing out at this time of night, boy? Mommy and daddy don't have a leash on you?"

"I'm passed the leash stage. Just let me be and go back to whatever the hell _you_ _'_ _re_ doing out here." Karuchi responded back with a little more bite than he should have.

The Quincy did not appreciate his tone at all. He frowned heavy and his dark, grey eyes glared. He let himself fall to the ground to be on even field with Karuchi. Stepping towards him, he grabbed at Karuchi's wrist. The wrist wearing the bracelet. "And what if I'm out here looking for a fight?"

Karuchi's eyes shot to the bracelet. It turned on… The Quincy's thumb was dangerously close to pressing the surface to activate it. What would be worse? Karuchi had to think in that moment. Fighting a Quincy in his world and his family coming to his aid, then scolding the hell out of him? Or… Fighting a Quincy in the other world, taking care of him, and proceeding to do what he originally intended?

Karuchi had to say. The latter? Sounded so much better. "Then I guess you're going to get that and a lot more." Karuchi smirked. The Quincy raised a lost, annoyed eyebrow, all while pressing his thumb down on the bracelet.

A bright flash shot off. The next thing Karuchi knew, he was in the same area, but... Everything around him wasn't destroyed. Buildings were still intact and lamp post lit up the street in a dim yellow. Karuchi smiled. It worked!

The Quincy had no clue to what just happened. He let go of Karuchi and frantically looked around. "Why is everything different?"

"You mean," Karuchi was glaring at him. "The way it should be?"

The Quincy grimaced, shooting a deadly look at him. "You did something. What?!"

Karuchi gripped the hilt of his sword. "You don't need know that."

"Then I guess I'll have to beat it out of you!" His fists sparked in a reiatsu like flame.

Apparently, this Quincy manifested his Reishi through his fists. Karuchi unsheathed his sword. He had intentions on ending the fight quickly. The sooner he did, the sooner he could explore.

* * *

 **Soul Society**

The research and development department detected another high spike in reiatsu, but this time, there was a second one along with it. Akon nearly jumped out of his seat. The readings on the scanner showed that the reiatsus were clashing with one another. That could only mean one thing...

A battle in the world of the living.

Akon was quick to inform the captain commander. All the captains were assembled to meet. Everyone waited patiently to hear what was the problem. The air was heavy with suspense. Yamato had finally spoken.

"There are new readings of high reiatsu in the world of the living. There's a possibility that there is a fight going on."

"You want one of us to put a stop to it?" Sui-Feng spoke then. She seemed on the ready to volunteer. Body language and facial expression wise.

Yamato nodded. His eyes scanned the captains. Thinking on who to send. One captain should be enough to handle it. His eyes went back to Toshiro. "Toshiro—"

Kenpachi grunted, folding his arms in disappointment. "And he's going to send the pip-squeak."

Toshiro ignored his comment. He kept his gaze on the commander. Giving full attention to hear what he would ask of him.

"I want you to go to the world of the living," Yamato continued, "use force if you must to put an end to it." Toshiro bowed a moment, indicating he'd take on the task. "And… if you can, put them in custody. Bring them back here."

"Yes, commander." Toshiro showed him a reliant look. He wasn't going to disappoint him. Or fail to stop the two unknown reiatsus.

* * *

Karuchi blocked a fist to the face with his sword. The Quincy's fighting was very fast paced, but it still was no problem for him to keep up. Karuchi kicked him back. The Quincy smirked as if he was enjoying himself.

"Nice, kid. You have some skill to you."

Karuchi didn't like the tone in his voice. Was he patronizing him? At this point, he should be wanting to back off. Karuchi felt slightly ticked off. "Wish I could say the same to you."

The Quincy didn't seem fazed by his stabbing comment. He only chuckled as he shook his head. Clenching his fist tighter, the flames flared wilder. "You have no idea what my ability is… You haven't figured it out yet?"

What was he talking about? The only thing Karuchi had notice about his ability, was the fact that it makes his fists flare a blue flame. Nothing special about it so far. "Are you trying to bluff me?"

"Why don't you go all out and see?" He challenged him.

Karuchi gladly took it. If he wanted to be stomped so bad, then why not grant his request? Karuchi decided to activate his Zanpakuto's release form. He focused deep within him, feeling his Zanpakuto's soul.

 _Baningusuta_!

But nothing happened. His sword didn't change form. What was going on? Karuchi started shaking his sword, wide eyed, appalled. "Hey! Baningusuta! Release!"

The Quincy chuckled at him. Something was wrong. Karuchi's gaze went to him, wondering. Could it have something to do with him? Was he stopping his sword from releasing? How would that even be possible?

"The flaring of Reiatsu engulfing my fists, is actually your Reiatsu. I can take away Reiatsu from you, little by little. You don't have enough of it to release your sword. You don't feel it? You should. Now that I've told you."

What Karuchi was starting hate? The way bad guys always seem to blind side you. Like a really, bad lead on. They let you feel like you've got the upper hand. They act helpless. Well, in his case, act like they're having fun with it all. Then, just to reveal, 'OH, BUT _NOOO_ , I'VE ACTUALLY HAD YOU TRICKED ALL ALOOONG—'

Shut it. He's sick of it. It's stupid. They sound literally stupid. Even stupid to him, because this guy thought his ability was going to affect him. Well news flash. He didn't need his release form or much of his reiatsu to handle a scumbag like him.

Karuchi sheathed his sword. "Fine. So I can't use my sword." He held his right palm out, letting a staff manifest in the form of white. He gripped it. "Doesn't mean I can't use my Quincy abilities to kick—your—"

" _Rain_ over the frosted heavens, _Hyorinmaru_!"

Karuchi Shunpo'd away from the attack, just before two ice dragons raised a frozen hell down on the Quincy. He was frozen in ice completely. His smug expression didn't have a chance to fall before he was frozen. It all happened so fast. Karuchi barely escaped being a popsicle himself.

Even with a white hoodie on, Karuchi shivered as he blew out a whistle. The dragons went away, as well as the low temperature that came with them. He walked close to the frozen Quincy and tapped on the block. "Wow." His staff still in hand, he jabbed it into Toshiro's chest, just before he could get close enough to raise his sword to him. "You can stop right there." Karuchi backed away from him. Eying him skeptically. "You didn't need to do," He lifted his staff up and down the frozen Quincy—"That. I had it handled, Hitsugaya." Even though he knew he was trying to freeze them both…

An instant show of bewilderedness came over Toshiro. "I actually did. Maybe I went overboard, but I have a bad… history with their kind."

Ouch. Karuchi was only half Quincy and still… even though he knew he didn't hold ill feelings towards him directly, hearing him say that made him feel some of the back lash. He was half part of that kind. The staff as proof in his hand. Karuchi shared the feeling all the same, however. He didn't know if he could ever forgive them for what they did to his world.

"How do you know me?" Toshiro spoke again.

"It would be too hard to explain."

"Then explain it to me in the soul society. I'm not asking."

Karuchi could see in his eyes that he didn't trust him in the slightest. Karuchi had to think his next move over. Choice one, he could easily blind him, then escape. But then he'd be hunted down and left no chance to enjoy himself while he's in their world. Choice two, go with him without a fight and hope he doesn't end up chained in a cell somewhere. Or choice three, the one he didn't want to do, go home.

Of course he was going to go with choice two. Karuchi sported a friendly smile. His staffed dispersed. "Okay, I'll go. But I'm not helping you lug that guy with us."

Toshiro sheathed his sword and sighed.

* * *

 **Second Bleach Realm**

Kenji woke up in the middle of the night. Sitting up, he groaned. He wasn't feeling light headed anymore. That was good. He looked out the window, thinking about the other world. What would his dad say? If he said yes, would it make a difference? He hoped so.

Gazing down, he sees that his bottomed drawer wasn't completely closed. It was odd, since he was sure that it was fully closed when he came in the room… bending over, he pulled it open. Heart dropping in his chest, he saw that the box he kept the realm-traveling-bracelet in was empty. Which could only mean one thing…

Karuchi took it while he was asleep. It was bad to wake up to. If their parents knew about it, he'd never hear the end of how careless he'd been with keeping it hidden from Karuchi. But he's 16. He should be smart and respectful enough to understand "no" means "no." But when he really thought about it, thinking back to when he was his age, and went behind their dad's back, leaving to the other world, he had the same thinking process…

He groaned louder. Well… At least there was a two-hour time limit on it. He should be smart enough to stay safe until then… hopefully.


	5. Chapter 5

When he agreed to go with Toshiro without a fight to the soul society… he didn't think that he'd be walking into a cell…

Hands flat against them, Karuchi stared blankly as he lightly banged his head against the bars. He was so bored. Being bored was not in his plan. He doesn't even know how long he's been locked up. An hour? Maybe close to? He grumbled loudly. "This sucks!"

"Shut up!" A guard yelled at him.

Karuchi smiled slyly in response. He had an idea. "Oh, you must don't know?"

The guard focused close on him. Suspicious. "Know what?"

It was time to reel the fish in. Karuchi took his hands off the bare, turning his head away for a moment. "Oh, the reason why I'm here."

The guard sounded so sure of himself when he said, "Obviously because you've violated a law."

Karuchi shook his head, tsking. "No, no. I guess they didn't tell you. Well, you are just a low rank guard. The details would have been wasted on your ears…"

That made him mad. "What you say—"

"Hold on now. I'm just trying to inform you. You wouldn't want to mistreat a noble in the Kuchiki family, now would you?"

The guard looked speechless then. Dumbstruck. Karuchi could tell that he was half on edge of falling for his—kind of bluff. Technically, it was a bluff in their world, but in his, he really was a noble.

The guard spoke nervously. "You're lying."

"Nah. If only I were. Then you wouldn't look so stupid right now. Byakuya himself had me looked for. I was a long lost and forgotten child for a while, but now, finally found, here I am." He smirked. "So, let me out and take me to the Kuchiki manor."

The guard still had a shred of skepticism left in him. "Doesn't make sense. If that's true, they would've just taken you straight there. Not here."

"Guard man!" Karuchi faked an annoyed exhale. "Use your head. I'm unknown to the Kuchiki family and believed to not exist. Why would they bring me straight there and drop a bomb like this out of nowhere, without proper preparation first?"

A glare of clarity crossed his eyes. "But, doesn't that mean you're supposed to stay here?"

Ugh… Karuchi hoped the guard was more stupid… Karuchi kept his composure, even though he was frustrated as hell on the inside. "Right. Look, I just want to walk around. Get some fresh air. Can you please just grant me that? Tag along if you want."

Karuchi would just ditch him the first chance he gets.

"Well… I guess, okay."

Karuchi smiled. Yes!

Karuchi finally got the chance to explore the soul society. It was just as he remembered. It was as if he was back in his world. Back in time. As if everything was a nightmare in his world and what he was seeing then was truly the only real reality.

Sadly, he had yet to shake loose the stupid guard.

"Is this walking around to your liking?" The guard asked.

Karuchi would like it a lot more without the leash. "Very much so." He should keep it cool, though. It would be very bad if he disappeared on him and was reported as missing. He was not trying to get on the wanted list. He's heard the story of when all of the soul society was after his father. It didn't sound very fun to him. Especially since most of the parts in that story he's father nearly died…

"Oh! Hey!" A loud, surprised voice spoke out. It sounded like a woman and very familiar. Suddenly from behind him, Karuchi felt the cushioning of large breast as he was lifted off the ground, in a tight hug. "Rukia, why did you cut your hair?"

Rukia? That's his mom… He has a pretty good feeling who just grabbed him, too… Karuchi craned his head up, slightly looking back to get a better look at Rangiku. Her faced turned to confusion slowly, but she let him go quickly. "Oh! Sorry. I thought you were someone else."

She thought he was his mom… That's just what every guy wants to hear a woman tell them. She basically just said he looks like a female. He showed her a cool face. "It's okay."

She bent down to his eye level, still not letting the confusion go. Or curiousness. "You. Look. Just like her!"

Okay, he was starting to feel agitated. He's a guy! If anything, she should be saying he looks like his dad. Then again, he should be used to it. Everyone back home has always told him the same thing. Even the Rangiku he knows always said the exact same words. Every time she would see him… Even worse, she would always call him—

"Ru-clone!"

"Did you just come up with that on the spot!?" There's no way! Even in a different world she still came up with the same stupid name…

She laughed, standing back up to normal height. "Sorry, it's just so funny that you look like my friend. She would flip out if she saw you…"

She would really flip out if she knew the reason why he looks so much like her.

"Oh! Why don't we just do that?" Rangiku sounded really excited then.

"Wait, what? Do what?" Karuchi asked.

"I want you to meet her. She'll get a kick out of this!"

No. NO. She would not! Geh. I should just run away right now…

The guard had a word to say about this. "Lieutenant Matsumoto… I can't let you do that…"

"Of course you can! Actually, why is a guard following you around, anyway?"

Uh…

"Because he's—"

"Noble!" Karuchi nudged the guard. "Remember?" He chuckled nervously. "Guard man, let's go meet Rukia."

The guard grumbled with a sigh. "Afterwards, we're heading back to your holding cell."

Rangiku looked really lost to the exchange that happened between Karuchi and the guard, but shrugged it off. "I don't know what type of noble gets put in a holding cell…"

"I'm newly discovered…"

"Makes sense." She concluded, as if it was slapped in her face. "Alright then! Let's go."

#

In the captains' meeting room, all the captains were in their split single file lines. The head captain in the middle at the end of both lines as usual. Standing in-between the lines and the head commander, was the Quincy. His wrist were cuffed close together and so were his ankles.

All the captains eyed him with heavy concern and caution. And revulsion.

Rukia couldn't believe that there actually was a Quincy before them. She thought they'd taken care of them all. Wiping them completely from the equation… Apparently she was wrong. Could they possibly have a secrete colony somewhere still? Plotting their next attack? The worried thoughts were endless… but this Quincy… he seemed just as lost as her thoughts.

"I don't know… what the hell is going on… but most of you are supposed to be dead or under a rock somewhere!" The Quincy shouted out. His eyes darted from face to face.

The head commander's brows creased with great confusion. A stern confusion. "My apology. None of us are as you say… Why don't you tell me why you seem to be shocked right now?"

The Quincy brought his attention back to Yamato, his teeth gritting, eyes glaring. "If I didn't have these power dampening restraints on right now… I'd kill all of you!"

"Teh. That's a big claim. You want to test that bet?" Kenpachi seethed.

"Kenpachi. Control yourself." Yamato asked of him. The Quincy shook his shoulders. Tearing his eyes away from the death glare he was receiving from Kenpachi. He looked back to the commander. "I'll ask again. Why do you seem so shocked right now?"

An insane, bitter chuckle raised from him. "Yhwach is supposed to be in charge of the soul society. Quincies have all the reign. And all of you, are supposed to be begging for peace and mercy for us not to kill you off."

Shunsui let a cool smile slip and caught the Quincies attention as he spoke, "Well, I'm sure that would have been a very nice dream for you, but… none of that is reality. We defeated you all and Yhwach in the war… It's been years since then. I don't know if you're senile or…?"

The Quincy looked away from him then, casting his eyes downward. "Senile?" His hands clenched tight in a fist. Eyes ablaze. "This is all that brat's fault. He did something to this world…"

The captains, including Yamato didn't know how to feel about what he was saying. He sounded completely out of place and insane. Yamato closed his eyes briefly as he took a moment's breather. "Guards. Take him back to his cell."

The guards did as they were told and quickly made themselves seen. They grabbed onto the Quincy and hauled him away. The Quincy continued to lowly mumble to himself as he was taken away. Byakuya's eyes followed him closely. He had a feeling that he knew what was going on. He'd heard something similar to this before…

Once he was gone, the captains talked amongst one another. Unsure of what they just witnessed.

"Hitsugaya," Yamato spoke, catching his attention. "The boy you captured that was with the Quincy, did you talk to him any further?"

"No Commander."

Yamato nodded. "This meeting is adjured for now. I want all of you back here in four hours. We will find out about the boy then."

Everyone began to disperse out the room. Before Rukia could break away from him any further outside, Byakuya pulled her to the side.

"Nii-sama?"

"Did you give the pentacle to Kurosaki?"

Oh… Rukia exhaled. Of course that's what he pulled her aside to talk about. Just thinking about the incident made her shiver a bit. What was brought to the light, she really wished would've stayed in the dark. She really wished she would've told her brother to give the pentacle to Ichigo himself. But… common sense told her that would have never happened. "Yes."

"What happened?" Byakuya couldn't hold back the need to know in his eyes.

Rukia could clearly see that. "Ugh…"

"Ugh?"

"Nii-sama… just know, that, something did happen. That man wasn't lying. He really is from another world… and your nephew there." Rukia told him, making sure not to go into detail. Leaving out the part of her finding out that he is her son and Ichigo is the dad! Ugh…

"Then it's just as I suspected…"

Rukia's attention was pulled back from her thoughts. "What?"

"That Quincy is from the other world he was talking about. But if so, how did he get here?"

Wow. Her brother really caught on fast. She didn't even think of that possibility. Like he said, if that is so, how did he get in their world? Plus, he seemed just as clueless as they were. Almost as if he had no idea why everything was different. Did someone bring him to their world without him realizing? "Nii-sama, something serious is going on…"

Byakuya sighed. Frustrated. "I know."

#

Rangiku had lead the way to the 13th division barracks. They walked inside. "Rukia, you won't believe~!"

Sentaro was the only one to make himself present and with a straight, plain face he greeted her. "Oh, hey Matsumoto."

Rangiku leveled her excitement once she realized Rukia was nowhere around. "Hey, Kostubaki. Where's Rukia?"

"She's went to a captains meeting. She should be back anytime now. It was a long while ago when she left…" His head leaned to the side to look past her, eyes going wide as he caught sight of Karuchi. He went completely stunned. "You…" He looked to Rangiku. "She…"

Karuchi's eyes narrowed. Annoyed. "I'm not a she!"

Sentaro's eyes darted back to Karuchi, even more stunned. "It's a guy!?"

Rangiku laughed loud. "That's why I'm here. I want to show Rukia this guy. He looks just like her, huh? I was super surprised, too."

Sentaro zoomed up close to him. Scanning him up and down. Especially by his chest area, almost touching his nose there. "I guess you are a guy… Or maybe you just have really flat boobs…"

One of Karuchi's brows twitched. He had to keep himself in check. In check. There's already a guard watching him like a hawk. He can't. Hit. Him. He can't. But he really wants to! "Ha, haa. So funny." Karuchi shot him a glare. "Get away from me."

Sentaro felt his frustration and backed off quick. "Sorry. Geez. Fiery attitude like her as well…"

That at least made Karuchi smile a bit. That's a comparison he'd gladly accept.

Sentaro's eyes caught sight of the woman they were just talking about walk in. But not alone. Byakuya was with her. He pointed it out to Rangiku. "There she is."

Rangiku giddily turned around to face her. "Rukia! You're back." Her eyes briefly acknowledged Byakuya. "Hey to you, too." Byakuya shook his head at her. "Check this out!"

Rukia couldn't help but smile at her excitement. But the second she focused on who she was excited about, her smile dropped a bit.

Karuchi showed her a friendly face. On the inside, though… he was nervous as hell. That's his mom from another world. She looks so much younger, but still as beautiful and cool as ever. Her hair is longer, he noticed.

"Nii-sama… why does that girl look just like me?" Rukia asked out of amazement.

Karuchi cried on the inside. Even his own mom… called him a girl… "Aha… Hey… I'm a guy."

Rukia looked apologetic then. "Sorry! I can't believe it. You look so much like me I automatically assumed you'd be a girl as well…"

Byakuya's eyes were so focused on him. It was almost as if he was x-raying him. His expression was scary while he did… Some things really don't change. Karuchi realized a moment later then, Byakuya's eyes found something unpleasant to him. He was looking at this wrist… at the… teleportation band?

"You. Come with me. Rukia, you too." Byakuya demanded.

Oh crap. Karuchi was worried that he found him out. If so, he'd really have to escape.

Rangiku and Sentaro were taken back by the sudden change in the atmosphere. From light hearted to serious. The guard said his peace before they left out of sight. "Captain Kuchiki, please not too long. I have to get him back to his cell."

"Cell?" Rukia asked.

Byakuya nodded and continued to lead a way to a secluded room. Rukia and Karuchi made sure to follow him. Rangiku didn't follow. She became even more curious about Karuchi.

Byakuya made sure to slide the doors closed, so that no one walking by could easily hear their conversation.

"Something wrong?" Karuchi asked.

Rukia was wondering as well. "Nii-sama?"

Byakuya turned to face him. His expression stern when he focused it to Karuchi. "You're from that other world, aren't you?"

Karuchi's eyes went wide. His pulse sped up a bit. Was it really the bracelet that gave it away? Thinking about it then… wasn't the one that Kenji talked to when he first went to that world Byakuya? Oh crap. He messed up. There was no point in lying… "I am?"

"Don't try to dance around it. You are." Byakuya said sternly.

"Is he really, Nii-sama? How do you know?" Rukia looked back and forth between the two.

"He wears the same wrist band as the man that gave me the pentacle. He also used it to leave our world. Would only make sense that's how he got here. But my concern is, how did you get the wrist band?"

Rukia started to piece things along with her brother. That would also mean, he was the reason that the Quincy was brought to their world as well.

Karuchi sighed. He looked utterly defeated. "I'm getting an early scolding… great." He noticed that they were confused at that. "Um. The man that gave you the pentacle. He's my brother. Kenji. I snuck the band from him. And… there was a Quincy that decided to tag along… kind of… and that's why he's here as well…"

"I see." Byakuya relaxed his stare. The boy wasn't anything to feel threatened by.

Rukia took a step towards him. She couldn't believe it. Not only did she have one son in another world… she had a second son… that looks so much like her. She reached to touch the side of his face gently, breaking a smile. "You are definitely real… I know that I'm your mother, by the way. Well, the me in your world."

Karuchi broke from her grasp out of shock. "What? You do? How?"

"Your brother told Ichigo he's his father and that I'm his mother in your world. And unless you're his half-brother…"

Karuchi shook his head vigorously. "No. Full blood."

"Excuse me." Byakuya strongly cut in, making his presence known again. "Did you just say he's your son?"

Rukia smiled sheepishly at him. "Ah… yeah. In his world, Ichigo and I—"

Byakuya raised his hand to stop her right there. "Please. Don't even say it." He sighed. "Now I know why that man said I'm his uncle. In his world, I really am…" He closed his eyes out of frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And forcefully family tied to that idiot… Rukia…" He looked at her with disappointing eyes. "how could you?"

Rukia's eyes bugged out. "What!? I didn't. The me in the other world did."

Karuchi laughed. He was enjoying the scene that was taking place. His mother and uncle from another world lightly bickering. "Oh. Um. Rukia…" It was weird to call her his mom since technically she wasn't in that world. She looked at him. "Has Ichigo come to a conclusion about his answer yet? Will he help us?"

"Help you?" Byakuya asked.

Rukia didn't hear the full detail of what happened after Ichigo passed out and talked to Kenji. So she didn't know about it either. She looked just as lost as Byakuya. Rukia shook her head. "No. I don't really know what you're talking about."

Karuchi raised his hand to his head. Rukia didn't fail to notice. He looks like her, but right then, he reminded her of Ichigo. "I guess Ichigo didn't tell you yet then. Talk to him about it. My world needs more than just his help, after all…"

A loud beeping sound made them all slightly wince. Karuchi's gazed dropped down to his wrist. It was the device. And there was a… count down? A countdown? What would there be a countdown? Crap… He's not going to blow up, right!? No. He shook that thought out of his head. That would be stupid… hopefully.

"What's that noise?" Byakuya asked, almost tempted to cover his ears.

"It's the wrist band!" Karuchi shouted a bit. It was just that loud… "There's a countdown on it for some reason…."

"What?" Rukia looked. There were 30 seconds left on the countdown and a thud of worry in her heart. "What's going to happen once it hits zero?"

He shrugged. "That. I don't know. Listen! Don't forget to talk to Ichigo. Please. Don't forget this face either, 'cause, even if I'm not your son in this world, remember that you have a cute son like me in another one. I hope to see you again. I hope…" His eyes went soft. As well as his smile. "I really hope you guys help us." His eyes dropped back down to the device.

Zero.

A bright flash over took the room. Once the blinding light cleared, he was gone. Rukia shared a heavy thoughtful stare with Byakuya. "Nii-sama."

"I already know Rukia."

They're going to help him. Whatever the cause may be.


	6. Chapter 6

**Second Bleach Realm**

Being threw out the portal, Karuchi was dropped down rough on the street. On his back, he groans a bit in pain. That trip was a lot more aggressive than when he first went… Not only that, he didn't even tell the stupid device to send him back! Karuchi grabbed at the band and took it off. He studied it closely. It looked perfectly fine…

"I forgot to tell you," Kenji's voice sternly spoke. Scrambling to stand, Karuchi could feel that he was in serious trouble. "The device has a time limit on it. Once it runs out, you'll get sent back."

Annoyed, Karuchi huffed. He looked his brother in the eyes. On his end he could only show that he was upset. Kenji's end, obviously he was disappointed. Scolding eyes and all. But Karuchi didn't care about that. What he did care about, was the fact that he met his mother-but-not-mother from another world, and didn't get to talk to her longer. He didn't get to explore Karakura town at all and that was the main reason he went! All thanks to that shorty captain, Hitsugaya. "Thanks for the late heads up."

"No problem." Kenji stepped up to him, holding a hand out.

Karuchi knew what that meant. He handed the device to him. "I met her."

Kenji was observing the device, making sure it was still in one peace. He was relieved that his idiot brother hadn't destroyed it somehow and made it back safely. Hearing what he said then, he brought his curious eyes back to him. "And by _her_ , you're talking about…"

" _Our_. Not-mom." Karuchi smiled. "I think she's going to help us. Byakuya too."

Kenji felt good about that information. Two people most likely on board with the cause was great to hear, but still… The one and only one he really needed to hear say yes was Ichigo. Hopefully, maybe, he'll say yes. "I don't know what you did or said… but it helped. Guess you going wasn't a total mistake." Karuchi lit up, "But, mom and dad are going to put you through the ringer when we get back."

And just like that, Karuchi frowned sadly. "Of course…"

From somewhere around them, Kenji could feel a familiar presence to him. He eyed Karuchi to see if he noticed, but from the looks of it he wasn't worrying about reiatsu in that moment. Only thing he must've been focusing on was his impending punishment. Kenji felt relieved by that. "Karuchi," His brother's gloomy eyes found his, "head on home without me."

Karuchi looked confused slightly. He shrugged it off, though, and started walking. "Okay…" Kenji wanted to say, 'thanks for not asking questions,' but something told him his brother already knew.

"Be careful out here." Were the words Karuchi said lastly to him before he Shunpo away.

Kenji nodded to himself. He planned on it. The presence was still somewhere near. Kenji walked till it felt closer and closer to him. Finally, as he turned a corner around a building, he sees who the source of the reiatsu belonged to. A woman. She was leaning against the wall. Not brothering to face him, Kenji leaned on the wall next to her. Space still between. "Must be serious if you're here."

The girl sighed. "I can feel your hate…"

"Why would I hate someone that 'had no choice' but to not see me anymore? I remember those being one of the many excuses you used." Her long, green hair was still the same. Her wearing that hat on her head hasn't changed either. And realizing he'd thought of all that, he noticed his eyes had drifted to observe her. More than he wanted…

"Can we not fight? You know those weren't excuses, Kenji. I'm a Quincy, under Yhwach's order. You're not exactly on the ally side to us. I did the hard decision you couldn't. I'm sorry if I'd rather see you in mental pain than physical."

Taking a deep breath. Kenji held every emotion back in him. If he didn't, he'd either punch the wall or his reiatsu would flare up. Neither of those things would be very good in the moment. Against his emotions, he knew she was right about the danger. But he would've protected her. He would have made sure they'd be fine. But even thinking that, that would've meant leaving his family behind… "Tell me why you're here, Candice. After all these years."

"A Quincy came down here a couple hours ago. He hasn't returned, nor can Yhwach since his presence in our world anymore. I took the job to check it out, knowing that you might've been involved."

Kenji huffed in disbelief. "Now I know how much you trust me."

"Are you involved?"

His brows furrowed as he told her firmly. "No. I made a promise to you and I kept it this far."

She looked relieved. However, it didn't last long once she sunk in the meaning of his last words. "This far?" She turned towards him. "What are you planning, Kenji? I hope nothing remotely close to attacking us."

Kenji scoffed. "' _Us_ ,' you say. What I'm planning to do, is going to be for the actual _us_."

Making his body face her, she gripped his shirt in her fist tightly, anger showing in her eyes. Pulling him closer. "And if you die, there will only be _me_."

His hands covered hers. Her eyes showed him frustration while his only showed her determined reassurance. "I won't. I promise. What I'm planning is going to work. We will be together and everything will be okay again. For everyone."

Seeing the confidence in him, her demeanor changed to that of support. A sad, smile came over her as she let go of his shirt, and he her hands. Candice stepped away from him. "I'm trusting in you, Kenji."

Lightning sparked, making Kenji blink a second too long. Once he focused, she was gone. Smirking, Kenji headed home.

* * *

 **Original Bleach Realm**

Recap. Ichigo needed to have a serious recap. He was sitting on the couch yet again, completely in his own thoughts. Early Daylight streamed through the windows and cascaded over him, making his already orange hair slightly glow like the sun. He had to ask himself…. He's not going insane and dreamed that entire encounter with Kenji, right? But it didn't feel like it was. It felt real and true. He wants to believe that he really has an other-world-son, but… what would that mean if he did? Ichigo really had to ask himself.

Could he help Kenji?

Ichigo hears footsteps hurrying down the stair to the left of him. It was Kazui in a hurried rush for the door. For what reason, Ichigo had no clue. He wasn't exactly going to be late for school since it was 6:30 am in the morning. "Hey, Dad!" The door opened, "Bye, Dad!" The door slammed closed.

Something is telling him Yoruichi is probably involved with his son's sudden haste for school…

"Ichigo?" Orihime came into view. She seemed sorry. Her eyes were distant from him however. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I just… you and another woman…"

Ichigo put a hand up. He had to stop her right there. Amongst his many replayed recaps, the one that wouldn't stop crashing into his mind was Orihime's anger with him. And that… terrible conversation they had about Kenji and what he asked of him. He said the wrong words in the wrong way. But doing so, it lead to him thinking about it all. After realizing and truly sinking it in that he and Rukia are together in another world. Knowing some other version of him had insane guts to do something he never had...

He admits it. There was a time where he thought about Rukia in a different light constantly. After the war, he thought about if he should say something. Should he risk their friendship? Rukia was everything to him. Hell. She still is to some extent. But… he didn't do it. He left their friendship in the perfect way it was.

And to know that another version of him wasn't afraid to ask and it worked out for him… really, made him feel dark somewhere inside…

But. None of that mattered. After all his feelings and thoughts settled down, there was only one thing left. Orihime. Ichigo didn't have the guts to tell Rukia the truth about how he felt and it's another's time's loss, but because of that, he turned to Orihime and got to get to know her better. Eventually from close friend to someone he didn't want to imagine himself without. She doesn't dry the rain… but she sure as hell protects him from it. That's who he has and that's who he will continue to love.

He looked her in her eyes, hoping that she could see the honest soul he was baring out to her. "I love _you_ , Orihime. In this world that's all that matters. So what if in another time, another version of me picked different? He's not me. I'm your Ichigo. Or is only one version of me being the only one to love you, not good enough to you?"

Orihime had tears in her eyes. Shaking her head as she wiped them, she collapsed next to Ichigo on the couch, grabbing him in a tight hug. He couldn't see her smile, but he could feel it. "It's enough."

Ichigo smiled. Glad that the brief rift between them was settled. "Now." Orihime pulled back, ready to hear whatever else he had to say to her. "Will you please listen to what I have to say about that other world needing my help?" Orihime nodded. He had her full attention. "Kenji told me that the Yhwach in his world is able to cross realms. He kills the old Yhwach and takes power from him. It seems like, if not already, he's going to be unstoppable…"

"And he wants our help to stop him?"

Ichigo nodded. "There's no way to pretend like this wouldn't affect us. And even if it wouldn't…" The real question. Would he help Kenji?

Determination glared in Ichigo's eyes. Orihime could see it clear as day light. It was the same look he had when she confronted him about Rukia all those years ago in High school. Before they went to save her.

"I'm with you." She wasn't going to go into this blindly. Orihime knows the risks full well. She wants to fight alongside him and protect him. As well as everyone else from this other Yhwach. All of this was being dropped on her suddenly. Orihime wasn't going to pretend like it wasn't a lot to take in. Because it was. But it felt like there wouldn't be much time to think about it for days. It was either then or never.

A knock sounded at their door. Orihime got up to answer it. To her surprise, it was Rukia and Byakuya. "Oh, Rukia. And… Byakuya."

Rukia snickered a bit. Orihime was obviously wondering why a man who would rather do mountains of paper work than visit them, would be at her door with Rukia. They walked inside as Ichigo made his way into the picture. Once he connected his eyes with Rukia, he saw the same off set look in her eyes from when she found out about Kenji's parents. Them. "I don't know why you guys are here, but… Rukia, we need to talk." She agreed with a small nod. Ichigo stepped outside and Rukia followed. Ichigo could hear Orihime asking Byakuya if he would like to sit as he closed the door.

"Something is telling me, that this is about us being together in another world?" Rukia asked him.

Ichigo's hand shot up to his head. "Yeah. We didn't exactly have a good talk about that last time."

"Ichigo, It's okay, we don't need to talk about it. It… doesn't feel that weird to me anymore. Well, not as much…"

His hand fell. "No. I need to say this to you." He was serious, which made her stop her joking tone and take him serious as well.

"Okay."

"Rukia… I did love you. Years ago."

Her eyes went shocked and wide. But she didn't say anything right away. Many responses were showing as options in her mind, but she only saw one the most.

Tell the truth.

"I didn't have the guts to tell you back then. I'm telling you this now because, knowing that in another world I did say it, really bothered me. I should have told you. I owed it to you and myself to know if we… might've been something more than just friends." He was worried to look her in the eyes. "My bad for… dropping this confession on you out of nowhere like this. I just, felt that this was needed closure to something I never exactly closed between us."

Silence fell between them. Rukia had a lot to process. It was nothing too much to bare, but… It just made her think about her own feelings in the past. If he had said something, what would she have said? She doesn't know. She knows she cared deeply for Ichigo, but was it to that extent? "Ichigo…"

"Yeah, I know—" He was cut short by a foot kicking him in the chin, making him fall back on his butt. He groaned of pain as he held his chin, eyes flaring up in confused anger. "Rukia! What the hell?"

"That. Was for keeping something like that a secret for me. You shouldn't have felt like you couldn't tell me. Even if I would've responded against it, I would've stayed your friend. The same friend. Can't you trust that?" She held her hand out to him, a reliable smile on her face.

Was it supposed to feel this way? A feeling that told him there was nothing to worry about or regret anymore. His phase of confusion and "what-if" when came to her. All that's left is the same Rukia she's always been to him since day 1. His one of a kind friend. Ichigo smirked, nodding. Grabbing her hand, he was pulled to stand fully. "Definitely."

Ichigo and Rukia had gone back in the house. Byakuya and Orihime were waiting for them in the living room area. Orihime was sitting on a chair while Byakuya was sitting on the couch to the other side. His eyes caught Ichigo's. "I hope that you are ready, Kurosaki?" Byakuya asked him. Clearly he wasn't all that pleased to be made to wait. Especially since it seemed important. Ichigo also had something important to tell him as well. Him and the head captain Yamato.

"Yeah. I have something to say as well, but you go first." Ichigo told him, arms folding.

"Apparently we were paid a visit by yours and Rukia's son. He asked for us to help his world. I don't exactly know what the danger is, but it must be very serious if he had to cross worlds for reinforcements. However, something tells me that you know exactly." Byakuya failed to care about the shocked expression on Orihime's face. He also failed to care if that was information to say in front of her.

Ichigo handled their relationship confusion a while ago, and he's sure she won't make too big a deal out of this puzzle fill in. He's sure she wondered who the mystery wife was in the other world and now she knows… so that's great. Ichigo's held Orihime's eyes for a moment, silently telling her to level it down for the moment. She understood and listened to the main matter at hand.

Ichigo brought his attention back to Byakuya. "You would be right. When I touched the pentacle, I was somehow transported to Kenji's inner world."

Byakuya's brows creased in wonder. "Kenji?"

"Oh. That's his name. The guy that gave you the pentacle. He told me I was his father and that because I married Rukia, for some reason, Yhwach was able to successfully come back and take over everything. Their soul society belongs to the Quincies, and the world of the living is over run and destroyed by hollows. As far as I know, life in their world is barely existing. And also a not so small problem… That world's Yhwach is able to cross time and worlds, killing his old self and taking his power, making himself stronger. He's not stopping till he controls everything in existence, I'm assuming."

Rukia wore a grave expression. "He's gone mad…"

"Mad with power." Ichigo continued on. "From what it sounds like, our world is not safe either. It's just a matter of time before he makes his way to us. By then, who knows. He'll be unstoppable." Byakuya seemed to be taking in all the information with a heavy heart. "I didn't know that Kenji came by again. He told me he'd be back in two days to hear my answer…"

"It wasn't Kenji that came to our world. It was another son." That was news to Ichigo. So it turns out that his other version has two sons. "He didn't tell us all of what you said, but I'm guessing it's because he didn't have time to. Since he was gone in a flash mid explaining. However, he did happen to bring a Quincy from his world with him."

Ichigo's brows creased with driven intentions towards that Quincy. He needed to inform the other captains of this, and he might as well pay a visit to that Quincy. "What did he tell you guys?"

Rukia spoke up. "It wasn't anything useful. He was just as confused as us to why he was there. Almost as if we were ghost that he was staring in the face."

Byakuya stood suddenly. "This new threat must be informed to the head commander. Rukia? Are you coming?"

"Ah. Yes, Nii-sama."

Ichigo jumped ahead of them for the door. "I'm going, too. He's my son from another world. I have to be there to explain as well." Byakuya didn't seem to have any objections in his statement.

Ichigo hasn't been to the soul society in years. He wondered if anything had changed drastically, or if it was still the same place since long ago. It would be a good scenery to see again. Though, the circumstances for it were not very light hearted.

* * *

Once they got to the soul society, Ichigo took in the scenery. Nothing much had changed at all. A part of him felt like he returned to a home long forgotten, and the other felt like it was a return long awaited. Byakuya led the way to the first division. Entering the barracks, Byakuya asked of Ichigo to stay behind. Rukia stayed with him and caught the smirk on his face.

"What's with that smirk?" She asked him.

"Just wondering… how captain Rukia Abarai has been handling things up here. Your squad listens to you, right?" He used his right hand to size her up. "Your height doesn't put them off or anything?" Getting lightly shoved by her, made him lightly chuckle.

"Oh, shut up. Before I high kick you again." Her threat sounded serious, which made his chuckle come to a brief halt. He smiled innocently.

Byakuya made himself present again. His eyes looked back and forth from the two, seeing that they must've had a playful moment. "The head commander will see you now, Kurosaki."

"Eh?" Ichigo's eyes slightly widened. "I don't have to wait for him to gather up the other captains?"

"This is a matter that he wishes to speak privately with you first." Was the simple statement Byakuya responded with.

Ichigo nodded and went on ahead to the assembly hall, where he found Yamato sitting at the end of it. Amongst the things that didn't change, Yamato's serious expression and penetrating eyes was one of them. Ichigo walked till he was close enough.

"Kurosaki, Ichigo." Yamato started first. "It seems that this new problem we have is tied to you?"

"Yes, Commander."

"And the Quincy we have here in holding… you know how he got here?"

Ichigo wasn't exactly sure how the Quincy got in their world. He wasn't even sure how his two sons cross over to their world. Byakuya didn't exactly say. And maybe that was because he didn't know his own self. The way he described his second leaving their world, was that it happened like a flash…

Teleportation maybe?

"'Knowing,' wouldn't really be the right word to use. More like, _aware_ of how he got here." Ichigo said. Yamato did not seem to be very amused with the word play. "A son that I have from another world brought the Quincy here."

Yamato was following keenly… until the mention of a son from another world that caught him greatly off guard. His expression went slightly lost. "Kurosaki… are you saying that his threat involves another world separate from our own? Is that really what you are implying?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury to imply what I know for sure. A Quincy pentacle was given to Byakuya by another one of my sons to give to me some time ago. I only recently got it. My soul had been transported to my son's inner world. He told me the entire situation. The name to this threat… It's Yhwach." Yamato's eyes were then full blown shocked. Grave. "In this other world… because I married Rukia, that, somehow changed the way things happened when Yhwach came back again during my happiest moment in the future."

"Kurosaki." Yamato had to stop him there. The mention of Yhwach and another world was heavy to accept. "Are you sure you stand by this? Do you know what you are saying?"

Ichigo nodded. His own eyes dead serious. "I am saying commander. That version of Yhwach is crossing worlds and getting stronger by killing his former self. And I am saying, standing firm in front of you, that we need to stop him before we're next and possibly unable to stop him."

Ichigo understands. It is a lot to take in and trust as true. Byakuya was the first to encounter this suspicion. Who knows the inner battle he went through to finally decide to trust it. Rukia was second and didn't want to believe. Not till Ichigo got the pentacle and took an insane spirit trip to find out himself. And he could always think that he was dreaming it all, but deep in the memory of his soul, he knew it was real. He knew his other version's son was real. He knew he was telling the truth. And he knew that he had to own up to a side of him that he pushed aside for years. The side of him that wanted to protect.

The time was then. More than ever and the stakes were higher. Every existence. It was time to protect that from Yhwach.

It was as clear as the sun on a cloudless day. Ichigo's drive and trusting reliance. Yamato could see it. It made him realize yet again, that it was a shame the young man before him could not be the captain he was meant to be.

"Very well then. This other son you spoke of. Will he cross over to our world again?"

"The day after tomorrow."

Ichigo thought about his final moments with Kenji, just before he was pulled back to his world. He thought about his plead and the honest look in his eyes. He didn't need to for any more convincing, but he did anyway. He did because he was glad he trusted him. Ultimately.

The answer was yes, Kenji.

* * *

Outside after school ended, Kazui was heading to leave, but hearing a friend's voice made him stop. His school bag in one hand, he turned around to face her. Mitsuko still faced him with the same disappointed face from earlier that morning. He was supposed to coach her on kicking the soccer ball far away into the goal, but… He was late for their practice session. Kazui can't teach her after school either, since he has his own training session to get to at Urahara's place. Kazui bowed a short moment, apologetic. "Sorry, Mitsuko. We don't have school tomorrow, so If you're free, how about we go to the park and practice?"

She smiled. "It's a date! You better show up, Kurosaki." She ran off.

Watching her leave, Kazui replayed what she said. A light blush came over his cheeks. "It's a… date?" He shook his head, getting the thought out his mind. There's no way she meant it like that. At least that's what he told himself…

Forgetting about it, Kazui continued to Urahara's. He got there within 15 minutes of walking and headed inside. To his surprise, Yoruichi was the only one to greet him right away. "Hey, Kazui."

Letting his bag fall to the floor, he greeted her back. "Hey. Where's Kisuke? Down on the training grounds?"

"No. The soul society called on him. So, I'm going to be solo training you this time." A slight worry came over Kazui's heart. Yoruichi caught it as quick as it came and went. She showed him a confident look. Not to tell him that she had confidence, but that she had confidence in him. "You're stronger now and in control. Trust yourself and don't hold back. Okay?"

The worry was still there, but not as heavy. He wouldn't ignore it completely. He'd never forget what happened. It's never going to happen again, because he'd make sure of it. Like she said, he's in control.

Trust yourself, he could see in her eyes.

A fearless gaze, Kazui manifested his soul reaper uniform and Zanpakuto strapped to him. "I won't hold back."


	7. Chapter 7

What Kazui had in mind was using his Zanpakuto, which was why he manifested it in the first place. But it turned out that Yoruichi had a completely different thought in mind. Which involved him stripping down to his underwear!

On the dusty grounds of the training field under the shop, Kazui stood hugging his arms around his body, embarrassed. His face blushing and not very fond of Yoruichi at the moment. "Why'd you make me strip damn near naked?!"

Yoruichi was as cool and collected as a relaxed cat. A small gleam shined in her eyes as she smirked. "You're not training with Urahara, Kazui. I have different aspects I want to see you hone."

"Aspects that involve me only in my underwear…" He grumbled.

"You have the ability to make a shield that reflects, just like your mother, right?" She questioned. "Surprisingly without the use of an object, too."

He never understood it either. His mom needed her hair pens to summon her fairies to use her abilities. But him. He can do without a personal object. It comes from somewhere within him. However, he sucks at the ability. No matter how many times his mom has tried to teach him how to utilize the skill. The shield he makes always crumbles to pieces within matters of seconds. "I can, but it's not like it matters. I'm terrible with it."

"Perfect reason to get better at it." She winked. "I actually have something else in mind I want you to try regarding it, though."

"Like what?"

"I want you to try manifesting the shield on your entire body."

His eyes widened. That was an idea he'd never thought of before. It would be like making himself into a walking, impenetrable force. But, there's still that one, small detail. He can't maintain the ability! "It sounds awesome, Yoruichi, but…"

"Try it right now." Her arms folded. She was ready to wait.

Geez. It was going to be a real waste of time to try. Yoruichi seemed to have full belief in this thought, however. Even against what he said. Okay. He might as well try, fail and get it out the way. The faster he did, the quicker his real training could start. Kazui took a moment to think deeply about where he wanted to manifest the shield. He had to focus on a small part of his body first. Like his fist or something. That was perfect actually. Keeping his mind only on his hands, Kazui try to cover them in the shield, and it actually worked. The thin, orange, glass like, but yet flexible coat of the shield covered both his hands completely. Kazui surprised himself. A smiled that he couldn't help and didn't realize came over him, but shattered just as the shield did the second he bawled his fist. A step too far, he guessed…

A comforting hand fell on his shoulder, along with the supportive smile of Yoruichi. "By the end of the this day, you will master this." She took a step back. The moment she did, Kazui could feel the confidence she left in him.

Damn… Okay. Full effort.

* * *

In the soul society, Ichika arrived back to her home. Tired from doing all the chores she was assigned, she let herself fall to lay down. Kicking her sandals off, she scooted herself further into the house, like a slug. Her father, Renji passed by a moment before backing up to stop by her. A smile on his face.

"Looks like my daughter has been put through a lot today." He said to her.

Her eyes drifted up to him. "Punishment chores." Her reply came slow.

He laughed. "What did you do, Ichika?"

She shook her head. It was something she didn't really want to say. The truth involved Kazui. Not that her father minded if she saw him sometimes. But… She's sure he wouldn't have condoned her staying the night and neglecting to report back with her squad. "Something worthy enough of having my squad back burned from patrols…."

His voice reached a more disappointed level. "Ichika…"

Suddenly finding strength in her body, Ichika raised herself up to stand. She showed him a small smile. "Don't worry about it, Dad. It's only for about two weeks."

"Two weeks!?"

She turned sheepish. "Ah. Where's mom?"

Eyebrow raised, and far from the intentions of letting his daughter drift him away from the punishment matter, he obliged to answer her question anyway. "At a captains' meeting."

Captains' meeting, huh? That information sunk in her mind. A lot of captain meetings have been happening lately. She's noticed that her mom has been gone on more than one occasion because of them. She understands perfectly well that it's part of her mom's duty as a captain. The only reason it made her think about it longer than a second was because…

Was something wrong? Maybe her dad could tell her. "She's been getting called a lot to those lately. Is something happening, dad?"

It seemed like he had to think about it himself as well. "Well… your mother hasn't told me anything. And your uncle, my captain hasn't as well…" He showed her a face that wouldn't be very fond of saying safe words just because. Just because it would be the easier thing to say. "Let's hope not."

Let's hope not… No. That's not good enough. What she's thinking may end up getting her in worse trouble than chore duty, but… she needed to know.

* * *

All the captains had been assembled. Even former captain Kisuke, who had no idea why he was called upon. He and Ichigo were standing in the middle of everyone, and before the heavy eyes of Yamato. A light look on his face, Kisuke leaned over to Ichigo to lowly ask him, "My, my. Do you know what's going on?"

"Sadly." Ichigo responded. Noticing that Ichigo couldn't muster up a light response or expression—the light look on Kisuke's face faded. With a sigh, he tilted his hat down a bit.

Yamato took the initiative to speak first about the matter at hand. Everyone was more than ready to hear what the situation was. "There is a great impending danger to us. Time can only tell when it will hit. And if it will be too late if we do nothing."

Isane softly spoke then. "Sounds like there's only one option…" Yamato didn't need to say the words to confirm her sentence. Yes. The only option was to fight as soon as possible.

Shinji wasn't liking what he was hearing. Neither were any of the other captains. This was the first they were hearing of that matter. It was being sprung out of nowhere at a fast speed, no time to give them preparation to sink in the meanings. Just a sign of emergency and act. Shinji needed the rest of the fill in, however. He was sure the other captains would want to know as well. Every fill in. "I'd like to know exactly why and who."

Yamato's eyes squared on him. "You need a reason to fight for your life and others? Is that what I'm hearing?"

"I know why I'm here, Commander. Preventing deaths and tragedies don't really come with reasons for me. On the other hand of these deaths and tragedies… I'd like to know the reason of it being opposed on us. And who dares to oppose it."

Well, it was only to be expected. Ichigo knew this. They would want further explanation. The hard part of it all, convincing them the threat was real.

Kisuke spoke up then. "I'd have to agree with Hirako… Though, I'm not a captain anymore… Which is why I really want to know. Why was I called here to hear this?"

"You were called here to elaborate a possibility for us." Yamato elaborated.

Kisuke nodded. "Okay…"

"Have you ever attempted to achieve crossing different dimensions?"

Slightly showing that he was dreading the conversation about to happen, Kenpachi's head bobbed back. "Seriously, are we really…"

Ichigo had to applaud Yamato in his head for taking the subtler rout. If it was up to him, he would've probably jumped straight into it. He thought about it— 'My son from another world needs our help!'—Hmmmm….

Kisuke wasn't trying to hide the taken aback expression on his face. Maybe he couldn't. "Wait… are you serious right now?"

"Very serious." He responded. Eyes not lying.

Kisuke had to admit to himself that there was a time he did try when he was ahead of the 8th barracks. He came close, but it failed ultimately. There was one aspect, one arithmetic he couldn't get right. Why was this suddenly important to know? "Yes. However, the experiment failed… What does that have to do with this meeting?"

Yamato's eyes scanned around the room. Looking from dreaded eyes to dreaded. That dread was far from death. It was close to thinking of lives that needed to stay that way. Alive. "We have been warned of a great threat by a person from another dimension of time and space." The faint sound of Kenpachi cursing in disbelief could be heard. Other captains were not eager to jump on the belief either. Yamato ignored their slight skeptic eyes and continued explaining. "It was the same person years ago, that had a reiatsu resemblance to Yhwach."

"That would explain the sudden wipe of his reiatsu… It was untraceable after he flew under the radar." Kurotsuchi spoke then. His interest was clearly peaked in the new information. Arms folding, he smiled widely. He was excited for some reason. "How did he cross to our world?"

Byakuya went ahead of both Ichigo and Yamato to answer that question, since he was the only one to have a solid guess. Captains were not surprised that he was already in the loop of what was going on. Though, that just meant this was a problem that was kept low for quite a while. "Both times there was a cross to our world, the use of a wrist band device was always being wore."

The word 'both' did not fly over Sui-Feng's head. She caught on to notice that he chose to avoid saying the same intruder crossed over two times. "There was a different one that cross the second time?"

Ichigo's brows slightly rose. He wondered how in the world she pieced that together. Then again, he remembered that she was the captain of the 2nd division for a reason. Paying attention to small word details like that was a skill anyone would want the person in control of the executive militia to have.

Byakuya answered her. "That is true. The second person was also male."

Shinji looked as if he was being taken for a bad ride he was very much against. "Okay," He started, "Did these two mystery men reveal their identity? No offense, but how do we know if we can trust their story if they didn't want to reveal who they are? For all we know, they could be lying." And trying to lead them into a trap.

"They are my sons." The whole room went slowly shocked at comprehending Ichigo's abrupt, sharp declaration. He sounded as if he was offended when he stated those words. He was. Ichigo knew for a fact that Kenji was not lying and trying to pull a ruse. He could feel it when he was in his inner world. They were connected. Even with the depth and gap of space and time, there was still a connection. He himself had to put aside doubt to notice it.

"Kazui?" Shinji raised a brow. There was a high chance of him not finding out about Ichigo's first born, and he only found that out because Rukia and Rangiku couldn't contain themselves from screaming the news in joy all over the place. One. very. drunken. night. A second born was surely unknown knowledge to him. "Sorry, you have a second son? Your sons from another world, crossed to ours to warn us?"

Ichigo firmly nodded. "Except that, these two sons of mine are not Kazui, nor another son from this world. In this world, I only have Kazui." Ichigo's eyes drifted to Rukia's. He was asking for her confirmation. She showed him that she had no fear of them knowing. They needed to know this piece of the explanation for it all to make sense. So, she nodded. Ichigo looked away from her, directing his gaze from captain to captain. "Their names are Kenji and Karuchi. The sons of both me and Rukia."

The room felt heavy with disbelief. Shinji had to try hard to stop himself from smiling wildly out of giddy shock. "What?"

Kenpachi did the laughing for him. "Is there anything else to top to this bullshit?"

Yamato's voice boomed heavy, reaching everyone's ears and ceasing the moment's banter. "Our word is no joke to make slight of!" Kenpachi bit his tongue. Shinji's almost smile froze somewhere in the middle before he fully killed it. "Leave now if you can't bring yourself to believe this. Make sure to leave your captains status behind as well. I will not tolerate incapable squad leaders. Laughter?" His eyes went dead on Kenpachi. "I didn't hear the joke."

Frowning, Kenpachi grunted. Standing uncomfortable under the scrutinizing gaze of Yamato. "Continue."

Ichigo did continue then. "Kenji pulled me to his inner world somehow, and explained to me the situation at hand. He told me that because Rukia and I ended up together, it made it so that Yhwach was able to successfully come back in my happiest moment and… take over everything."

Isane's brows creased with sadness. "Oh… that's…"

Kurotsuchi grinned. "Interesting."

"Not at all…" Isane lowly said. "It doesn't make sense. Why would you two being together have a drastic changing outcome like that?"

That was a good question. One that he didn't think to ask Kenji, but it wasn't like Kenji gave him much time for asking questions, anyway. Kenji never said the reason either. He only said because they ended up together, it helped Yhwach for the better… Because of him marrying Orihime, what happened in their world that didn't happen in Kenji's? Only difference would be who his…. Ichigo's eyes widened.

Yamato caught this look in his eyes. Look of realization. "Did you realize something that is crucial, Kurosaki?"

All eyes went to him. Crucial? Maybe… It was a wild possibility. But it was honestly the only one.

Kisuke, who fell into the dark of the main center of view, started to realize something as well. His arms turned into a position where one hand would be able to cradle his chin, while his other arm was used as resting support. "Ah… Oh… Hmm… The answer why is obvious now." Kisuke side eyed Ichigo. "There's something you should know. I should have told you this a long time ago, but it kept slipping my mind." Everyone, on edge, waited to hear what he had to bring to light. "Years ago, Kazui, he…"

* * *

The shield coated Kazui's arms to his elbows. He was managing to maintain it without it shattering for at least 5 minutes. That was, without him being attacked anyway… Yoruichi's foot came crashing down above his head, and Kazui wasn't a big fan of feeling the impact, so he brought both his arms up to block the blow. A heaving pulse of power and wind rippled for a mile by far. Swinging her other leg around as she dropped low, Yoruichi landed a clear hit on Kazui that sent him crashing into a large rock.

He even made a body print of himself… Eyes squinting, wincing, he tried his best to focus on Yoruichi without seeing a tracing blur of her figure. He coughed. Raising his arms, the shield crumbled to pieces before his eyes yet again.

"It lasted a full 10 minutes this time at least." Yoruichi told him, trying to sound encouraging. She held out a hand to him.

He reached, about to grab her hand, but paused short, eyes falling on a tiny remain of his shield on his hand. He hummed disappointedly, connecting his hand with hers. "That's a fact. Sadly, not the wanted result by now." He was helped to stand and let her hand go. "We've been at this for hours now. Probably night by now…"

A small, sympathizing smile came over her face. **_"Even the strongest had spent many days, on both knees, drenched in their own sweat, brought down by doubt and weariness, Kazui. Nothing is gained by expecting or without trial and error."_**

Kazui exhaled, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah. I know. You've told me that a million times." He wasn't focusing on her expression at that moment, but when he did, eyes meeting hers, he saw that she was confused and baffled. "What?"

"What have I told you a million times?" She asked him.

"What you always tell me. What you just said."

"I… didn't say anything, Kazui. What are you talking about?"

Kazui had to think a moment to himself. Seriously… He heard her say those words to him. He's not going crazy. He hoped… Kazui chuckled uncomfortably.

Yoruichi showed him a concerned glance. "I was going to say something, actually." She wanted a few seconds before continuing. "…Even the—"

"Strongest had spent many days…" He eyed her seriously. "That's what you told me already…."

And this is the part where she'd start thinking he lost his mind. Kazui was starting to wonder as well. It's just like the last time he experienced this. When he heard someone tell him to duck, but no one had actually said it till a… moment later… Wait a second. He's not… He can't be… That would be out of this world.

Yoruichi was getting worried then. "Kazui. Are you okay? I didn't hit you too hard, did I?" She was about to touch a hand to the side of his face where she hit him. "I don't think I did…" Kazui's abrupt voice made her stop in her actions.

"What would you say if I told you I might have the power to briefly hear in the future?" I was slightly nervous to what her response would be.

Her brows narrowed in confusion as she let her hand fall back by her side. "Are you saying you heard me say that before I said it?"

"Not just then. It happened when I was at school, too." She had to believe him. He needed her too. Or else he wouldn't know what to think about himself. He couldn't hide the slight fear in his eyes.

Yoruichi could see it and sighed. Her confused expression fell to show honesty. "We had suspicions that this would happen…"

It was Kazui's turn to be confused then. He didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes were firm. "When you reflected Yhwach from manifesting. You did more than just that. You absorbed some of his abilities. And apparently, it's the future aspect."

What? How would that make sense? He didn't feel any type of energy being absorbed into him when that happened. Only thing he remembers is that it dispersed the second he touched Yhwach's small spirit form. He didn't know how to describe it really. All this time. Yoruichi and Kisuke knew it might have this effect on him. Why didn't they tell him? "Why didn't either of you say anything?"

"We didn't know for sure this would happen. We didn't want cause unnecessary worry. Kisuke and I decided that we'd tell you and your parents if you ever started to show signs." He could tell that she was telling him the truth.

Kazui shrugged his shoulders. He had to calm himself. So what if he absorbed some of his powers? There's nothing seriously bad about that. If anything it's a slightly disturbing fact, but… he's fine otherwise.

Yoruichi didn't say anymore. She swallowed down whatever there was to be said and decided to hold it off, he could tell. Laying a hand on his shoulder, she gently encouraged him to walk with her. "Come on. I think that's enough for this training session." For a long while, she hadn't smiled at him. She did then. "You look half dead, Kid."

And it brought him peace.

He snickered. "I feel half dead." He flexed his arms and neck. "You did hit me hard."

"Aw." She one arm hugged him to her as she told him lightly. "No pain no game."

* * *

"Kazui is the reason Yhwach didn't come back to attack us again." Kisuke revealed. Everyone couldn't choose one expression to react with. Confusion. Shock. None-understanding. Disbelief. Or too taken aback to sink it in. Everyone shuffled between at least two of them.

Ichigo on the other hand, took on a brash anger along with surprise and concern more than anything. "What?" His eyes were heavy on Kisuke.

Kisuke started get sheepish. "Now Ichigo, just calm down and let me finish explaining." Ichigo seemed to bite a mouthful of words as he relentless crossed his arms. "6 years ago, Yhwach tried to manifest in your house. At the time, Kazui was there and touched his soul form. When he did that, somehow he reflected Yhwach's entire being."

"You knew this and you didn't tell me! Why?" Ichigo fumed.

"I…" Kisuke gazed around. Then back to Ichigo once he came to an inner conclusion. "It's not important right now. What is important, is knowing that your son Kazui is the reason Yhwach didn't get a chance to destroy our world as well."

Byakuya spoke then. "It all makes sense now. Because you didn't end up with Inoue, Kazui was never born. He was never there to stop Yhwach."

Of course. When the puzzle pieces are put together that way, everything fell into place to make the picture they're in. Yamato had listened and taken in the new information. After a moment, he spoke. "You all know the situation now. Who is willing to fight?"

The captains in the room had the look of a thousand words on their faces. They were thinking well on it. Toshiro seemed to be the only one to come to a final thought.

"I don't doubt what you honestly feel, Kurosaki. However, I would like to see for myself if this Kenji person is trust worthy." Toshiro told him.

Ichigo was slightly disappointed in his response. Just how was he going to test Kenji? Ichigo turned to him and kept his demeanor open minded. "And just how do you intend to do that?"

Toshiro didn't ignore Ichigo's gaze or question. But he paid him one moment of awareness and turned his focus to the head captain. "I want to fight him, Commander."

Yamato seemed to not understand for a moment and waited for him to continue. Ichigo was ready to jump and object, but Kisuke put out an arm in front of him to remind him to be calm about it. Not liking it, Ichigo did settle down and let his ears open up to hear what else he had to say.

Toshiro did continue. "If he is honest about what he claims and is to be trusted, then… he will hesitate to kill me if his life is threatened."

Ichigo could feel the word "no" wanting to yell out from his voice. But he pushed it back as fast as the feeling came. He was worried about this ordeal. He won't go back on his word. He did trust Kenji. He trust that he wouldn't seriously harm Toshiro even if he was pushed to. But if he's wrong… If they do fight and he's wrong, and Toshiro does get hurt badly. It will be on him. And he will be there to personally inflict his apology on Kenji.

There's just no way he's wrong, though. Ichigo nodded in acceptance. Rukia looked slightly surprised that he did. "Okay. I have nothing against that." Ichigo confidently stated.

Yamato had the final say so. His eyes drifted from Toshiro to Ichigo. Once again. The other captains seemed to be on board with the fight as well. Yamato sighed. If Kenji was a good person, truly and honestly, he hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way. "Very well then. Our reiatsu indicators should pick his up again when he does arrive. When that time comes, make sure to be there to personally welcome him, Hitsugaya. This meeting is over."

* * *

After all the captains left the area, including Yamato, Ichika had dropped down from her stealth post, up on a pillar. She had heard everything from middle to finish. She didn't know what to think. Another world? Yhwach being a threat again and… Ichigo having another son in that world named Kenji? She had no idea what she ease dropped on, but she's sure it was never going to reach her ears willingly. In any case, one thing was for sure.

Another war was coming.


	8. Chapter 8

Rukia walked far enough from the first division barracks. Mid way through the captains' meeting, a feeling irked her. She had a feeling that a certain girl had found her way into it. Rukia hoped she was wrong, but there was no mistaking it. Halting her footsteps, she waited in a path way that she knew her daughter would have to pass through to leave the barracks fully. If it really was her, she'd see her soon enough.

And just like she expected, Rukia could hear even paced footsteps approaching the path way, and a shadow being cast the closer the person got. Sure enough, the moment those footsteps turned in the path, Rukia's gaze met with the concerned face of Ichika.

Ichika flashed a look of knowing she was in trouble, but then tried her best to cover it up the next moment. She smiled uncertainly. "Mom. Hey!"

Rukia folded her arms and showed her a stern look. There was no point in acting. "Give it up, Ichika. There's nothing you can say that would excuse you for being here."

Ichika decided to push it a little bit. Not like she had anything else to lose. "I was looking for you…"

"Here I am. What was so important that you couldn't wait till I got home?" Rukia still wasn't buying her response. Ichika could clearly see that and nearly pouted.

There was no point… She needed to get answers anyway. Though, Ichika was hoping to prolong it before asking her mother about the captains' meeting. Preferably in a way that wouldn't give away that she snuck her way _in_ the captains' meeting. "How did you know I was listening to the meeting?"

Rukia had a look of obviousness. "You're my daughter. I've been attuned to your reiatsu since you were a baby. Mind you, it barely had a spec of presence then. You could never fully hide yourself from me, Ichika." Ichika almost laughed. But her mother was still not very happy with her in the moment. "How much did you hear?"

"I dropped in around the time Uncle started talking about crossings to our world… and then from there on I stayed till the end of the meeting…" Rukia sighed. She didn't want Ichika to know then. It was too soon to explain everything to her more clearly. Rukia wasn't sure she wanted to. Up to her, she probably would have not told her. "I know you don't want to explain the war part yet, so I'll wait till you have a clear way you want to. But, for now…" There was one part of the meeting that irked her. A revelation. And it made sense when she really thought about it. "You and Ichigo?"

Of course she wanted more light shed on that. Rukia smiled a bit. Clearly her daughter was worried about it. "It's true in another world, Ichika."

"But… have you ever thought about it in this one? Before you were with dad? Or… now even?" Ichika couldn't say that she'd be surprised one bit if her mother said yes. Once before, when she was younger, she found and saw pictures of uncle Ichigo, her mom and other friends stashed away. Her and Ichigo always stood out, always stood together. Always… in some of the pictures, kept their eyes on each other. Annoyed at one another and it made her laugh, or happy and it made her smile with wonder. Her dad caught her with one of the albums one time. At that time, Ichika had never met Ichigo and didn't know what he looked like, so ultimately she didn't know it was him in the photos with her mother. Ichika remembers asking her dad who Ichigo was. He simply replied that he was a good friend of her mom and took the album away from her. He didn't want Rukia to find her with it when she got home, she remembered.

 _"_ _Why ?"_

The question came to her memory.

 _"_ _I'll tell ya when your older okay?"_

And the response that followed, along with a soft smile her father showed her. He never told her, but years later till currently, she knew then. Her mother was in love with uncle Ichigo. What parent would feel the need to bring up something like that to their child and ruin the picture of mommy and daddy happily ever after? Makes sense her mom never felt it was worth mentioning. Especially since it seemed during that time and even now she's leaving it behind.

"Ichika… I love your father. Very much. In this moment, right now, I wouldn't change anything to be different." Rukia spoke those words with full honestly. She wouldn't want to change anything. Everything was already set in stone. Set in place. There was no point. Where they all were in that point in time, was where they were meant to be and stay from their own decisions made. Ichika took everything she said with an open mind. She nodded. Rukia started walking down the path and Ichika followed closed behind.

* * *

Ichigo had kept close to Urahara when they left the captains' meeting. He had to talk to him about his son more. Find out why he didn't tell him about Kazui reflecting Yhwach. Kisuke wasn't oblivious and could tell that Ichigo had something to say to him, so he stopped walking and faced him with a cool grin. Ichigo however, couldn't mimic the same. "Yes, Kurosaki?"

"Why didn't you tell me and Orihime about what Kazui did?" Straight to the point like a sharp knife cutting butter.

Kisuke really didn't want to tell him. He could try lying, but from the looks and feel of it, Ichigo would sniff it out. He didn't want him frightening the boy if he did tell him though… Hell, that was the whole reason he didn't tell any of them. He didn't want to frighten them. "Listen. I honestly forget to tell you and Orihime. I figured Kazui would tell you actually." Kazui didn't tell them because he and Yoruichi made sure that it sunk in his head _not_ to tell them. Hopefully Ichigo wouldn't go interrogating Kazui and get that bit of information out of him… or else he's a dead man. "I think, this is best to leave behind. Your son saved us all and isn't that all that matters?"

Ichigo seemed slightly skeptical. His brows creased and his eyes held a glare from the moonlight. But in the end of it all, Ichigo decide to trust Kisuke's words and accept what he knew then. "I guess it doesn't matter much now. Don't hide something big like that from us ever again." Ichigo started to walk away.

Kisuke could only hope that it didn't matter anymore. He hoped everything with Kazui was truly fine. Kisuke spoke lowly to himself with the tip down of his hat. "Sorry, Kurosaki."

* * *

The next morning, Kazui had kept his word to Mitsuko and met her at the park to help her practice. Her hair was tied up in a high pony tail and was dressed in regular clothing: shorts and a plain yellow color t-shirt. She was rolling the ball under her right foot when he found her. Hearing him announce his presence, she faced him with a beamed smile as silent greeting.

"Sup, Kurosaki!" She said to him, halting her ball movement.

Kazui, dressed in similar clothing to her, but instead an orange shirt, smiled. "All warmed up, I see."

She thumbed up. "Yup! So, what do I do first?"

First, he needed to see just how strong she could kick. He extended his left arm out and had his palm flat, faced down. "First, I want you to kick my hand. As hard as you can." She looked at him unsure. Eyes almost going wide. By the look on her face, he could sense she was worried about hurting him. She honestly had nothing to worry about. "Don't worry. My hand is made of steel." He winked at her after saying that. With his other hand, he tapped the bottom of his held-out palm as signal. "Come on. Hard as you can."

She was still unsure, but decided to trust his word and reassuring smile. "Okay. Tell me if I hurt you, though!" He nodded. Moving her right foot back, getting a good wind back before attempting, she let it loose once she felt ready. Her foot started off with quickness, looked to have power, but then…

The actual feel of it felt like nothing but a teddy bear kick. Amused, Kazui held back every muscle in his body that urged for him to laugh. He coughed instead to substitute it.

Mitsuko let her foot fall back. "Did I hurt you?"

Kazui shook his head…

"A little bit of a sting," He lied, rubbing the palm of his hand to better back up what he said. "What. A. Kick, Mitsuko."

Her eyes glared a bit. "You're not saying something…"

A tiny laughed escaped out of him. "No, not at all. Let's move on to actually using the ball."

She lightly punched his shoulder. "Liar."

It really amazed him sometimes. She could always tell when he kept words from her. Letting the feeling go, he focused back on the main matter at hand. Kazui kicked the ball, so that it would roll in front the goal. He walked a bit inside the net, like a goal keeper. "Try to get it past me."

Mitsuko smirked once she heard the challenge. "You bet!"

Time past. Kick after kick, Kazui didn't need to block any of them at all. Mainly because none of them made the ball reach inside the goal. The ball would always roll short of the post. Kazui was having a hard time keeping his face straight and not laughing. "You want to try moving closer to me, Mitsuko?" He kicked the ball back to her.

She pouted a bit. "What are you trying to say, huh!"

That your kicks are weak as hell… He snickered at his inner thought. "That maybe you should start off small…"

"No! I can do it. Watch out, Kurosaki," She got ready to kick the ball, "this one's heading straight in the net for sure!" Her foot collided with the ball. It actually looked to have a good bit of force behind it.

But.

The aim was terribly off and the ball strongly hit the top of the right post and bounced back. Kazui watched the fly ball with amazement. To think, if she had aimed her kick better, it would have been a threat for the net. Just as Mitsuko was about to turn around to see where the ball landed, she whipped her head back forward at the whistling sound and feel of something blowing past her at fast speed. It was the soccer ball…

It was shot straight in the net. _In the net_. As in the ball was literally stuck in the net fabric halfway. Kazui had made a quick reaction to fall back on the ground to avoid getting hit with it. He looked away from the ball and looked to Mitsuko with shocked eyes. She was looking at him shocked as well and amazed. It wasn't her. He knew that already. No. This had to be no other than…

"Kurosaki!" Mitsuko ran to him. She helped him to stand and he let her. "Are you okay?"

Kazui's brows furrowed. Annoyed and maybe slightly upset. The one to blame for the kick of the ball approached them.

Ichika. She seemed very mocking and teasing when she spoke, "Oh, Kurosaki, are you okay? I would've thought you could block that. Have more than just your eyes gotten soft since the last time we've played?"

Kazui calmed himself with an exhale and responded simply, "Have you gotten more childish since the last time we've played?"

Ichika lightly fumed, feeling the heat he shot at her.

Mitsuko was very lost to their exchange. Her eyes were focused on Ichika. "Um. Who are you?"

"Abarai Ichika!" She proudly pointed at the ball, "And I'm the one that kicked the ball."

Kazui could just hear her inner thoughts: _"Ha, ha, haaaa! Praise me, simpleton!"_

Mitsuko's eyes widened. A wide smile spread on her face. "What!? You kicked the ball? You did that?" Ichika was nodding. "Can you give me some pointers?" Mitsuko was over the moon with excitement.

Kazui didn't like where the situation was seeming to head, and so he deflected it by grabbing Mitsuko's hand. He pulled her away as he nervous chuckled. Going unnoticed by him, but not Ichika, Mitsuko immediately got silent at the hand to hand contact, blushing heavily. A little bit far away from Ichika, Kazui let go of her hand and brought his eyes to her. He raised a confused brow. "Are you okay? Your face is really red all of sudden."

Her hands shot up to her face. "Oh, is it really?!"

"Yeah…"

She did her signature hand gesture, poking the side of her forehead with her index finger. "Think it's just from working my body up in this heat, you know?"

Kazui had come to noticed she did that whenever she started a sentence with "think." He accepted her answer. "Okay. Listen. That girl, she's kind of crazy, so stay over here and I'll go see what she wants."

"Wait. You know her?"

"Yeah. She's an… old friend. Sort of."

"Oh." Her eyes casted down slightly at the thought of his words. A moment passed and she suddenly found new energy, "Okay! I know. I'll go get us something to drink. And maybe something," Her eyes looked past him to Ichika, who seemed to be wondering about something as well as she looked back at them, "for her too?"

He waved that suggestion down. "Don't waste your money on that fire-spark."

"Fire-spark…" Mitsuko repeated lowly with a hint of disappointment in her voice for some reason.

"Hm?" He moved his head a little closer to her eye level, to see if he could read where her thoughts were at.

"Ah!" She hop stepped away, and continued to hop step… "Drinks. I'll be right back!" She jogged away.

Kazui found her actions to be weird, but he didn't think too much of it. She was probably still shocked over the kicked ball. Walking back by Ichika, Kazui try to ignore the funny look on her face. Whatever she was about to say, he knew it was going to annoy him.

"So," She started, "finally trying to catch a girl, huh? Does she know you're extremely slow in the romance department?"

He wasn't amused. Arms folded. "Extremely slow in the romance department? What are you talking about? Mitsuko and I aren't like that. She's just a school friend."

Ichika laughed a bit at that. She felt bad for the girl, knowing that this Mitsuko did not share the same feelings. It was obvious as day. For some reason, Ichika did not feel all that bad for her though. "Hm. If you say so. Sorry about that ball, by the way. I didn't think I used that much force when I kicked it."

"Yeah. As if you were really pissed off or something…" Ichika eyes widened a bit. A slight tent of red covered her cheeks. This as well went over Kazui's head. "Don't worry about it. What are you here for, Ichika?"

Why was she there? The first answer that came to her mind, was that she was scared inside. She doesn't show that ever. But, finding out about the war oncoming and her mother having yet to fill her completely in, it made her have a terrible feeling inside. Ichika had realized that her eyes were down casted then. She was looking at the ground. What made her look up, was the touch of Kazui's hand on her shoulder. Those soft eyes…. She hated that they brought so much comfort to her. She was strong. Prideful. But he… never liked to sport any of that unless it was forced out of him. If they have to go to war. If they have to help. If they have to fight. Would she backed down while he would stand up fearless? "Um. There's something big… that's going to happen, Kazui."

"Ah. Seems like it's got you scared." He openly told her. But not in a teasing way, he was being sincere.

She nodded. "The great war that happened long ago. What if it happens again?"

"Hmm. We'd have no choice but to fight. Protect the people we love."

"You won't be scared? Worried about everything you could lose. Worried, scared that you wouldn't be strong enough to win?"

"It's not about knowing you'll win. In a way, winning is losing." Kazui told her.

She wasn't following him. "What do you mean?"

"We fight to protect the people we love, right?" She got that part, nodding. "On the other side of the blade, the people we direct it to are fighting for a similar purpose as well."

She didn't agree and shook her head wildly. "No. It's not similar!"

"Maybe not. But, I'm sure they have people that care about them and they fight to not die, so that those people would not get hurt by losing them. We protect loved ones by taking loved ones."

"But they're bad people. They want nothing more than power and don't care who they kill to get it. It's not the same."

"Think of it this way. Humans kill animals to eat. A predatory animal would do the same to humans. The survival instinct is still the same. The only difference is, humans feel the emotion to regret and feel sympathy while animals do not. They just know what they want."

That at least made since to her. "Bad guys only know what they want."

Winning is losing… because one side must lose. Each side believes in their own cause. Regardless if that side is with emotion or predator instinct.

Ichika took a deep breath and exhaled it. "I wish it didn't have to be this way. I wish everyone could just get along and have the same look at life."

"Wouldn't that be the perfect world?"

"Yeah."

"Back on the original issue though… Fight with the purpose to protect. Not to win. Keep that in your mind and heart."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"Oh. And Ichika. You are strong enough. Don't doubt that in you. If we had to fight side by side in any war, I'd trust you with my life."

Something in her heart tugged heavily with happiness. It brought warmness to her. "And I'd trust you with mine."

They were both strong enough.

Kazui's eyes went curios then. "I have to ask though, is there another war coming or something?"

"Ah… I don't know if I should be the one to fill you in or tell you… I'm not even supposed to know."

He became serious then. Another war? Most likely his father knows about it. Maybe that's what was going on with him and his mom that one night. They were talking about it. If so, why didn't they tell him? The answer came to him immediately. They didn't want to worry him over it. "So then… yes."

Ichika nodded. "Yes."

"I got the drinks guys!" Mitsuko shouted from some ways away. The moment she reached them, a big smile came over her as she panted. She held a drink out to Ichika. She had got her one even though Kazui told her not too. Letting the serious information fall behind him for the moment, he smiled slightly at the sight of friendliness she showed. Ichika glanced at him a moment, and could catch is silent words.

 _We'll talk some more about this later. Everything will be okay._

A grateful smile came over Ichika as she focused back to Mitsuko. She took the drink. "Thanks. Still want me to teach you some pointers?"

Mitsuko's eyes gleamed and sparkled like stars. It made Ichika and Kazui laugh.

They will enjoy this moment. The calm before the storm.

The fun playing soccer with Ichika and Mitsuko had kept the pending information of a war out of Kazui's head. Towards the end of the session, Ichika had Mitsuko kicking almost like a pro. Kazui did give himself some credit, though. He played the beat-up-doll with all the kicks he had to block. Mitsuko had gone home first, but before, she said her immense happy thanks to Ichika and showed a blushed face to Kazui as she thanked him for finding time to help her too. Yet again, it had gone over his head. He remembered Ichika had told him to try opening his eyes sometimes after Mitsuko was fully gone. She told him, maybe then he wouldn't get smacked in the face without realizing it so many times. Kazui had took in her words with an unsure understanding. He told her okay. It was the only response he could think of for it. After the word was said, there was a long string of silence between them. They were both thinking the same thing in that moment.

That it came back to them. No longer hidden from their mind with the distraction of laughs and each other's presence of having fun. The war had come back to them. And it was going to stay from there on. Before they split ways, Kazui, knowing what was ahead for Ichika and her intentions, he told her, "Good luck."

Kazui took in the moment of seeing her softly smile back at him. His eyes were opened for sure then. "Good luck to you too."

* * *

Getting home, Kazui had walked inside. Immediately, he found that his father was in the front room talking with his mom once again. The atmosphere was similar to when he found him and Aunt Ru together. But this time, he knew what was going on. Kazui was not going to head straight to his room and pretend like it's a private moment that does not include him. Because it does include him. They should have included him from the very beginning, instead of him having to find out from his friend, Ichika. He thought his father trusted and believed in him more than that. Apparently not. He understands his mother would be worried and hide it from him for a long while before she was ready to tell him. He would expect that from her. But his father? His father told him that he would always be upfront with him. No sugar coating. So what was the deal then?

Ichigo finally noticed his son was home. Orihime turned and straight away tried to put on a covering smile, but Kazui knew better. He walked close to them and kept his face serious. He couldn't help it, he was being honest with how he felt. Orihime didn't need to hear the words to know that her son knew the truth. She could read it all over his face. Her smile faded.

"I'll let you two talk," She said then. Ichigo eyes went to her, silently asking if she really thought it was a good idea. She responded with a simple reassuring look and nod. As she was about to pass Kazui, she gently touched his shoulder and proceeded to the kitchen to cook dinner.

Just the two of them left alone to talk, Ichigo started off first. "Hey son. What's wrong?"

Kazui almost scoffed. How could he still try to act like he doesn't know? "Ichika came to visit me while I was out playing soccer."

Ichigo half smiled. "That must have been great for you. She come down just to see you?"

Kazui's next words came out sharp and fully clear. His father had no choice but to stop putting on a fake mask. "She came to me because she was scared… about the war."

Ichigo couldn't hide the slight surprise that came over him. How did Ichika find out? He would've figured that Rukia wouldn't tell her right away. Apparently, he figured wrong. Rukia seemed to have more trust in how her daughter would take it. Unlike him, who didn't want Kazui trying to involve himself. Because he knows that his son is just like him. Ichigo's hand shot straight to his head, feeling the uncomfortable situation. "Rukia told her…?"

Kazui shook his head. "I don't know."

Ah. Then if not… how? Ichigo let his hand fall. He had to cut all the bull crap and be fully honest with Kazui. He had no other choice but to then. "I was going to tell you, okay? When I found the right moment and time. Right… words."

There was no excuse for something like that. "Would the right moment and time have been just before you left to fight this war? Would the right words have been, 'don't worry, son. I'll handle this'? I don't want to hear those excuses."

"Okay…" Ichigo exhaled. His son was taking this to heart more than he thought he would. "I'm sorry, okay? I just didn't want you to… Yeah, I didn't want you to worry. This war is big, Kazui."

"I want to help."

Ichigo shook his head. His eyes glaring in disapproval. "And that is exactly the main reason why I did not tell you. No."

For the first time, Ichigo had saw his son's eyes go livid. "Why not! You expect me to sit back home and go to school and play soccer and pretend like everything is fine? When it's not! You could be dying. Aunt Ru could be dying! Mom! Everyone else fighting… If you were me, I know you would feel the exact same way about this that I do."

Ichigo knew he was right. It would be impossible to act like everything was fine, knowing there was a war going on. If Ichigo was his son years ago, he knew he would go help, not matter who tried to tell him no or stop him. Hell. He went against every soul reaper and captain that tried to stop him from saving Rukia… Odds against him, but he didn't care. Looking his son in his eyes, Ichigo can see the same heated determination. Did he really want to be one of those people that tried to stop him from saving Rukia? One of those people to his own son? He loved his son. He doesn't want to lose him. But with a war like this, he might lose him anyway.

Ichigo growled out a sigh. He would have to thank Ichika for telling him. If she hadn't, Ichigo didn't think that they would be having this conversation. Not for a long time and maybe ever… It would have been wrong of him and he realized that then. He should trust his son. Kazui was strong. Probably even stronger than he was when Ichigo was his age.

Unexpected to Kazui, his father suddenly pulled him into a one-armed hug. The hold was firm and filled with silent words. All words Kazui didn't need to hear to understand.

"Alright. You can fight. Um." Ichigo pulled away from him. "There is a lot more I have to explain to you."

Kazui didn't know what else needed to be explain. But then, of course, who they're fighting and where. Was the war coming to them or did they have to go somewhere else? Didn't matter to him. All that mattered was that his father wasn't going to stop him from helping. He's going to fight alongside his loved ones. Not play pretend.

* * *

The daylight had completely gone away. It was night time, but the moon did not shine through clearly. Thunderous clouds covered the sky. Above an empty street of Karakura town, a portal opened, and out came Kenji landing on his feet. It was finally time for him to get his answer. He hoped the trip wouldn't be for nothing. That goes for all the previous trips as well. Kenji glanced at the wrist band screen. The timer was ticking away, reminding him to hurry up and get a move on to Ichigo's house.

Sharp and quick, Kenji bent back to avoid the blade of a katana that slashed down quick for him. It cut his cheek a bit. A thin, short line of blood formed. It dripped and he touched it. Seeing that whoever tried slice him, really meant business. If he hadn't dodged, his cheek would be gashed.

The attacker spoke, getting his attention. "You have quick reflexes."

Yoruichi came to Kenji's mind. His eyes unable to hold back confusion. "I had a great Sensei."

Toshiro kept his expression neutral at hearing that. "The next attack, won't be that easy to dodge. So I suggest," He flashed stepped, swiping his sword upward. The attack happened so fast, that Kenji had no choice but to pull his sword out and clash it against his to block it. "You use your sword."

Kenji didn't understand. Why was Toshiro attacking him? He didn't do anything to deserve the hostility. Not to mention hostility from a captain. Was the soul society really that off put by his presence? He knew that they would catch on to the strange occurrence of his crossings, but he never thought the head captain would send someone to attack him. "Hey. I'm not the enemy here."

"That's what they all said." They both broke away from the sword clash. Serious with the eyes of deadly intent, Toshiro kept his fighting stance on aggress. The next attack he did, Kenji met it with his sword–each slash, each kick of the foot, but one particular elbow jab got to him in the chest, pushing him back some ways on his feet. Toshiro didn't give him any time to recover before going in again, each move more precise than the last, and the next swing of the blade that much closer to cutting him deep.

Kenji wouldn't be able to keep up defensively for long. He didn't want to fight him. He knew him. Well, the Toshiro in his world. They fought alongside each other, not the other way around. Toshiro even trained him for a short while. It was the strictest training of his life, but it taught him how to control his reiatsu a certain way that only Toshiro could teach him.

He was fighting against that same friend. Sensei. Practically family even. Kenji felt pain in his heart. He knew it was not the same person he knew to be all of those things to him, but it was still the same man.

He didn't want to fight him!

The storm above seemed to be getting worse. Lightning flared and the sound of thunder crackled loudly. The clash of their blades became slick with the coating of rain that began to poor. This was bad. Rain. Toshiro knew it and Kenji as well. That was going put Toshiro in high favor. It was already starting to feel cold. Kenji honestly hated the cold. Enough training sessions with a man like him, anyone would hate it.

Toshiro flashed stepped away, giving a good space between them. Rain splashed and pattered around them. Toshiro had a look in his eyes that Kenji knew all too well. He was going to do it. Perfect. Kenji's had just about enough of playing around with him. He had no intentions to fight him seriously. That was not why he came and it damn sure was not something he was going to be forced into. He's going to end the nonsense. Since he won't listen, he'd just have to show him.

The clouds were already a greyish dark, but once Toshiro began to focus and harness his power to release his shikai's special ability, the clouds turned black. All to feed into the beast of a dragon, the one and only last of its kind, "Sit upon the frozen heavens…" His sword extended in length, taking release form, gaining a crescent shaped blade attached to its hilt by a long metal chain. Immense spiritual power overflowed from the tip of the blade, creating the form of the ice dragon that Kenji knew so well. With the amount of water that the storm already provided, the ice dragon was going to hit real hard. Kenji prepared himself. Toshiro slashed down and yelled, "Hyorinmaru!"

Kenji closed his eyes as he took in a calming breath. Remember.

 _"_ _You can use your Quincy ability to control your reiatsu, to manifest it into any form you want, just as I do with Hyorinmaru in release form."_

Kenji remembered that he was young and full of excitement.

 _"_ _I want it to look like your ice dragon!"_

The memory of the amused look on Toshiro's face was still fresh in Kenji's mind.

 _"_ _Like Hyorinmaru? Okay. Here's what you do…"_

Feel every bit of the reiatsu, power and focus on it.

 _"_ _You have to be precise with this technique, Kenji. Lose control and focus, and it will not end well for you or the people around if they're of the living world."_

Just the right amount. I don't want to seriously hurt him. I just want to get my point across. That I'm—

The dragon raged towards him, freezing almost everything it came close to and dropping the temperature low. Kenji's reiatsu flared around him, white and wild like fire. It began to take the form of a dragon, white and red, identical to Toshiro's, but except for the color. Kenji opened his eyes, sharp and focused. He used his sword to control the aggress of his dragon, slashing down towards Toshiro's.

Both dragons collided with great force into one another. The ice of Hyorinmaru tried to overtake on Kenji's dragon, but it wasn't solid and so it fell through like fog. Kenji's dragon overpowered Hyorinmaru and dispersed it into nothing but frosty air and went straight for Toshiro.

Shocked. Toshiro didn't move out the way. But before the dragon came an inch close to touching him, Kenji stopped it, making his reiatsu lose its form and go back to him. Kenji's reiatsu's flame died. It took a lot of him to form it and disperse it suddenly before it took its full course. He breathed heavy. "Geez."

Rain stopping, the clouds above started to part and make way for the night sky to show through. The moonlight shined down over them. Kenji approached Toshiro, who was still shell-shocked. That was surprising to Kenji. Not every day Toshiro wore a look like that. Sheathing his sword, Kenji showed a friendly half smile, though it was full of worn out energy. "I'm not your enemy."

Toshiro dropped the look on his face once he accepted what had just happened. Though, he still wanted an explanation for it. Toshiro showed a mirrored expression. "Thank the heavens you're not, right?"

Kenji laughed a bit. Nodding once he pieced together what that battle must have really been about. Right.

Thank the heavens.


	9. Chapter 9

"So… explained to me why that was necessary again? That could have gone bad in so many different ways." Kenji said, sighing. Orihime had just handed him a cup of tea to drink. He thanked her with a gentle nod of his head. She nervously bowed… and walked away back to the kitchen area. Kenji raised a brow. He pointed in her direction. "Is she okay with me being here?"

Ichigo, with his arms folded, nodded with a light laugh. He took a seat on a chair opposite to him. "Yeah, she's fine with it. With you. I think she's just taking seeing you in. You know, my other son."

"Right… It's only technical though." He turned around, to see if she was in sight. But she wasn't. Maybe she was making more tea? He hasn't even taken a sip from the one he's currently holding. He turned back around, eyes landing on Kazui's skeptical ones. "You're?" Kenji didn't really know his name. He knows that he's the son of Ichigo in that world.

"I'm Kazui. And of course you know the rest…"

"Kurosaki. Yeah, it is also my last name…" Kenji took a long sip from his tea. The awkwardness was more than he expected. His kind-of-younger-brother from another world wasn't making it any better. Something was telling him that Kazui didn't trust his cause.

Everything had been explained to Kazui when Kenji had arrived. He was shocked to no end and didn't fully believe it. But enough of hearing Ichigo and Kenji talking to each other, he eventually knew there was no other truth except for what they told him.

"Are you really from another universe?" Kazui asked. Kenji nodded with a slight smile. "Geez."

Ichigo decided to step in the conversation. He recalled that Kenji had wanted to know why the soul society wanted to do the ambush plan. "Kenji. About the attack on you. The captains wanted to know if they could trust you to be on our side. My word was not enough for them. So they decided to test you in combat. If you took the fight seriously and hurt Toshiro badly, then that would've meant you were not on our side."

"If I felt my life threatened and chose to kill him to save mine, huh…" Ichigo nodded. "Still… I didn't plan on crossing to get killed by a distrusting captain. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't have done anything to protect myself. But at the same time, I did just enough to convince my case first."

"I'm glad you proved yourself. And sorry, if it's still worth anything to say now." Ichigo told him. He honestly didn't want to go through with the plan. He trusted Kenji. Maybe not in the beginning, since things were crashing in with his reality a little too quickly, but eventually once everything settled, he believed in him.

Kenji didn't have any anger towards him. He couldn't muster anger towards any of them. They look just like the people he loves. They technically are, but not his versions. He could never truly want to hurt or hate them. They could try to force his hand, but no matter what, he would not be the one to draw first. Or spite. "It's okay. If it were the people I love on the line of a decision of trust like this, I'd want to make sure I'd be right to choose trust as well." He hadn't realized he finished the tea and sat the empty cup down on a small table in front him.

"This is crazy…" Kazui spoke up again. "Insane. You're practically my brother… I kind of always wondered what having a sibling would be like. You seem cool enough."

Kenji chuckled. He was glad Kazui started to open up to him. "Thanks. I on the other hand, have a younger brother, so I know what it's like, sadly."

"Sadly?"

"He can be a pain."

"Oh." For some reason, the imagine of Ichika popped up in Kazui's head after hearing Kenji say that. A sibling that could be a pain… He vigorously shook his head. "Thank god she's not my sister." He lowly said to himself. Noticing Kenji had barely caught what he said, wondering, Kazui sheepishly smiled with a shake of his head. "Nothing." Actually, it made him wonder… Since his dad ends up with Aunt Ru in Kenji's time line, would that mean that Ichika doesn't exist in his world? "Hey," Kenji looked to him. "Do you know a girl named Ichika?"

"No, not that I can remember. Why?"

Knowing that she didn't exist in his world, slightly pained his heart for some reason… He doesn't exist in Kenji's world either, but… A world where Ichika doesn't exist?

Wait a second… Kazui had just been hit over the head by a ton of bricks. How did he not notice this before? Kenji. Ichika… Kenji. Ichika… Holy! Kazui got a weird look on his face when he started to focus in hard on the way Kenji looked. There was no mistaking it. He looked like her kind of. He looks like her! Aunt Ru ended up with Renji and named her daughter slightly after her best friend, Kazui's dad. She named her Ichi-ka. But in the other world, Aunt Ru ended up with his dad and named her son slightly after her best friend, Ichika's dad. Aunt Ru named her— "K-ENJI!"

Kenji was startled. "What?"

Kazui felt like he wanted to pass out, shaking his head crazy. "N-nothing. Nothing. Ignore me." Kenji wondered about him with a confused look on his face, but eventually turned his head away and went back to talking to Ichigo. Holy crap! Ichika is Kenji. Kenji in his world is Ichika! Oh no, he should have never realized that revelation. In a way, they're all related oh god _noooo_.

From the side to him, Ichigo could see that his son was silently dying on the inside. He wondered what had gotten into him, but decide to let him go through it for the time being. He would ask him what's wrong later. "How long are going to be staying?"

"As long as I need to." Kenji answered. He made sure to get Kurotsuchi to take the time limit off. This time around he needed more than just 2 hours of conversating. He would need to officially meet with the captains and hear what they have to say. And hopefully if they say yes, he'll be running the plan out with them. Who crosses back to his world with him and so on…

"That's good to hear. The soul society is going to want to meet with you tomorrow morning. You can stay here for the night." Ichigo stated. He stood and was about to leave it there for the night, before catching his son in his sights again. He remembered their earlier confrontation. "Oh. Right. Kenji?" Kenji continued to give him his attention. "This one wants to come with to fight in the battle." Ichigo said in a louder tone to make sure that his spaced-out-son would hear him. Kazui snapped out of his freak-out trance and joined Ichigo and Kenji on the matter.

Kazui, with a sudden strong resolve, showed that to Kenji as he eyed him. "I want to help in any way I can."

Kenji was a little surprised. The Ichigo of this world was actually okay with him joining the battle. But then he had to realize, Kazui probably went through a lot of words to get him to. Kenji thought about it. No matter what way he tried to think of it, it didn't sound like a good idea. "I am concerned about that Kazui. Yhwach is not someone that plays around for long." It was like looking in the mirror when he saw Kazui's glare flash a strength and seriousness that he was wholly aware of.

"'After nine hundred years, he would regain his pulse after another ninety. He would regain his intellect and after nine more years, he would regain his power. And nine days later he will regain the world.'" Kazui recited from a memory when he was at Ishida's house one day, reading about a sealed king.

Kenji's vibe had gone down a dangerous level. Ichigo and Kenji could feel the shift in his expression and tone. "That is the hymn of the sealed king. _Yhwach_. The progenitor of all Quincy and the destroyer of my world and life…"

"Let me help put an end to him. For good. I won't hold you guys back, I give my word." Kazui pleaded. "To hell with that hymn."

Kenji tried to calm down. It was hard and he barely managed to get his feelings under control. He did however, once he realized that Kazui was reassuring him, telling him, he'll help him get his world back. A bit of peace of mind washed over him. Yes. Okay. There is still no getting around the fact that it will be incredibly dangerous… "Okay, Kazui. I believe in you."

Ichigo smiled and pat Kazui a bit too hard on his back, but it was to get a point across to his son, who winced as he looked at him. "You better listen to EVERYTHING I and Kenji say. No questions asked. Am I clear?"

Kazui smirked with a nod. Deal.

* * *

The next morning in her manor, Ichika couldn't stop her mind from racing through a million thoughts about the war. The crossings, the other dimension that told an entirely different story compared to her own. Not to mention, in this other world… she doesn't exist. Her mother married Ichigo instead of her dad. They had two other sons apparently, and both managed to visit her world. She wondered what they were like…

Lying down, she felt and heard footsteps nearing her. Her eyes looked up to see her mother staring back down at her. Rukia sat down beside her while Ichika raised up. It was tough to tell how her mother was feeling in that moment. Her expression was so solemn.

"I'm ready to explain everything better to you. Are you ready to hear?" Rukia asked of her. Ichika nodded. "Okay… so… as you already know, I and Ichigo end up together in another world and have two kids that are not you and Kazui. Because Kazui wasn't born, he wasn't there to stop Yhwach from coming back by reflecting him." That greatly surprised Ichika. She almost couldn't believe it. "Yhwach took over their world because of that, and has been… crossing over to different worlds at a certain point in time, killing his former self and taking the power. He's strong, very strong, and most likely will find his way to us eventually. We have to stop him before it's too late." Rukia explained to her.

Ichika didn't hear that part of the war. Was it mentioned earlier before she started listening? Her heart started to speed up without her realizing it right away. Once she did, she registered it as fear and… anxiousness. But overall, she wasn't going to let it get the best of her. "Does that mean some of the captains are going to cross to that guy's world and fight Yhwach?" Rukia nodded. "Are you?"

"I will. I can't stay back. Not when I know what I know now."

That your sons in another world are in danger… That thought hit Ichika hard. What about her? Didn't her mother know that she didn't want to lose her? Those guys weren't even her real sons! Maybe there are for another version of her, but not her! She's her mother damnit. If she dies for them… No. That can't happen. Ichika held tears from forming as she eyed her mother with serious determination. "I'm going with you!"

Rukia was quick to shut her down. "No, you are not."

In that exact moment, Rukia and Ichika were taken back by the sudden appearance of a man wearing a black trench coat and currently sporting a pair of sunglasses. "Sorry to interrupt, but…" It was Kenji. He took his sunglasses off, expressing a friendly face as he put them in one of his coat pockets. Rukia looked at him, standing to her feet. She didn't know who he was. She'd only heard of him. But he did look slightly familiar. He looked like Ichigo, but with longer hair… "I'm Kenji. I really didn't mean to interrupt. Byakuya told me to wait around here. I guess I somehow found myself by where you are."

Wow. It is him. The other son. She can see where he favors her, but more so Ichigo. She couldn't fight the smile coming on her face. It was a good change of pace from the argument that was about to start between her and Ichika. "It's okay. I was just talking to my daughter about the war. Wow. So this is what you look like. Like a second Ichigo."

He chuckled a bit at the appearance comment. "I get that a lot. Everyone back home always tells me that I'm practically my father and that my brother…"

Rukia pieced two and two together. She remembered all too well what Karuchi looked like. "Practically is me?"

Kenji smiled with a nod. His focus went to Ichika. She was staring at him with the most curios and skeptical look. It was her first time seeing him in the flesh. He did look like Ichigo, but with black long hair. It was crazy that it was happening. A person from another world standing before her. "I'm surprised she told you about the war."

"She didn't willingly. I may have, eased dropped on a captains' meeting."

Kenji couldn't help but get a memory flash back of all the times that he snuck into captains' meetings when he was younger. And all the minutes he spent in punishment because of it… "Hm. Is that what you two were arguing over?"

"No. She wants to fight in the war. I told her no." Rukia told him.

Ichika stood up then. Fire was in her eyes and her tone was firm. "I want to help!"

"Eh… First Kazui, now you too. I really don't want to put you guys in danger like this." Kenji honestly said. They were both young. And the war was going to be tough. He didn't know if they could handle the odds.

"Wait," Ichika zoomed in on him, brows creased, "Kazui is going!?"

Rukia was just as surprised as Ichika was. "He is?"

"Yeah… Ichigo trust him to fight by our side."

Rukia felt a pain sting in her heart. She knew those words hurt her daughter. Kenji didn't mean for it to. Rukia tried to look her in the eyes, but they were already watering and directed away from her.

"He's always a step ahead…" Ichika sadly said.

"Ichika…" Rukia started, but was quickly and sharply cut off by Ichika.

"I get it!" Ichika made eye contact with her, hurt evident. "I don't get the same trust that Kazui does." Before Rukia could say anymore, Ichika flash stepped away.

Rukia sighed as her hand went to her face. "That girl… so high-strung. I wish she would understand how I feel about this."

"I'm sorry," Kenji said. It was his fault that Ichika got hurt like that. "But, she does understand how you feel. After all, you both do feel the same."

Rukia looked to him. Eyes wide. He was right. She and Ichigo for years tried to protect her and Kazui from serious danger. But it always found them anyway somehow. And they always got through it. They're tough kids. Ichigo must had realized it. They can't try to protect them from this. Not when everyone's lives are at stake. "None of this would have happened if my other self never married Ichigo… I'm sorry." Everyone.

That hurt Kenji. "Hold up. Don't blame yourself like that. You made the decision to fall in love with a man that felt the same about you. You're happy in my world. Both of you are. Screw the way things happened after. If you never allowed yourself to love Ichigo, me and my brother would have never known the most amazing parents in the world." Rukia almost teared up, sadly smiling. "I know you're not her… but it all feels the same. I still feel that motherly connection. I love you just as I love her. Don't ever blame yourself again." Before he knew it, Rukia had hugged him strongly. His shirt felt wet. She was crying...

"I should go talk to my daughter." She said lowly, wiping her tears.

Kenji was hesitant to hug her back, but a moment later, he did. "Actually… let me talk to her. And don't worry, I'll let her know how you feel." Rukia pulled away from him, looking at him thankfully. "I'll let her know that you would die for her, and that you know she would do the same. Which is why, you're going to let her fight too, aren't you?"

Rukia fully smiled then, nodding. "Yes."

"Kenji," Byakuya called. He decided to stick with calling him by his first name, to lessen some confusion. Both Rukia and Kenji's attention went to him. "The captains are ready to listen to you."

Kenji nodded. Guess his talk with Ichika would have to wait. Rukia realized this too. The three of them headed for the first division.

In the captains' meeting hall, Kenji stood in the middle of two lines of captains. Yamato sat in front him. Kenji had noticed Ichigo walk beside him. Ichigo showed him a reassuring smirk as cue to start talking.

"Thank you all for meeting me, and hearing me out," Kenji started off.

"As insane as it is," Kenpachi stated.

Kenji chuckled lightly. "Yes, it really is. I wish what I have to say was nothing but my insanity, but—that's not the case. Ichigo I take has already told you most of what is going on in my world?"

"He has told us that Yhwach is alive and well, and is a very great threat. So much that we should be worried as well. Explain to the captains why." Yamato already knew. The captains didn't get the chance to hear the main reason, due to the distrust issue.

This was the part that the captains were waiting to hear. Just how did his problem from another world involve them?

Kenji gazed from eyes to eyes. "The Yhwach of my world has been crossing to different worlds to the same time and day, killing his other self to make him stronger. I'm sure you all can put two and two together…"

"He'll eventually make his way to our world…" Muguruma stated loud enough for all to hear. They had all realized the same thing.

"I understand now." Yadomaru said. "How many has he already killed?"

Kenji looked at her gravely. "Four…."

All the captains were shocked. Their expressions solemn and grave. This was really serious. And they didn't even know if it was too late or not. Kenpachi seemed to be the only one keeping somewhat of his composure. "Heh. Four consumed or not, I'll kick his ass."

Kenji was glad to hear he was onboard to go at least. "You all now know how serious this is. His army of Sternritters is very… large. But there are only a few worth worrying about. Most of their strongest died in the war. To fight this war, we would only need five captains and maybe some lieutenants."

"All of us can't go?" Sui-Feng asked.

Kenji shook his head. "Unfortunately, my device will only be able to bring 11 of you, max."

They all seemed to be thinking it over heavily. While they were, Yamato took the opportunity to break the silence. "Kenji." He got his attention. "Yhwach still has his ability to see the future. Even if we get through his army, the chances of us bringing him down…"

Kenji cut him off, not meaning to be rude, but couldn't help but get the answer out quick. "You all wouldn't be effected."

Ichigo was surprised. As was everyone else. Even Yamato a little, his brows went slightly up. "Really? But why?" Ichigo asked.

"All of you are not part of my world. Technically, you wouldn't have a future there, or something like that." Kenji was trying to piece everything Kurotsuchi explained to him. But it was hard, since even to him it didn't make much sense. But he did his best to explain anyway. "The Kurotsuchi of my world said that, our world would block it…" Kenji's hand went up to his head, "Sorry, I'm being very bad at relaying this."

"Hmm," Kurotsuchi thoughtfully hummed. "So I _was_ the one in your world to make the device for you in your world."

"Ah, yeah," Kenji confirmed.

Kurotsuchi smiled widely, pleased to hear this information. "I had feeling that I was from the last captain meeting. My time and space alter prototype is going to be a success eventually then."

"Wait," Shinji deadpanned, "you're already making a device that allows teleportation to other worlds? Why didn't you say anything last meeting when the subject came up?"

"I didn't think that bit of information was needed to be said. My project was supposed to be a secret actually…"

"You must have an idea of what Kenji is trying to explain to us then, right, Captain Kurotsuchi?" Yamato stated firmly.

"Ah, yes. Kenji is not being teleported to another world. He would just simply be _crossing_ over. You see, every dimension has its own dark matter frequency. The device that he has, makes a small portion of his world's matter frequency change to our matter frequency, allowing the cross." Kenpachi already seemed to be zoning out from all the dimension crossing talk.

"But what does that have to do with us not being affected by Yhwach's future ability?" Rukia asked, still not seeing where the two add up.

"Because. We have the same frequency that our world does. When someone is seeing into the future, they are tapping into that frequency. But without the same frequency to correlate with the world…"

"It would be hazy!" Ichigo said, mind blown by what he was hearing.

"Well, yes, that's one way to put it." Kurotsuchi said, confirming that he was right.

Thinking about it all again, Kenji realized that is exactly what his world Kurotsuchi told him… "So that's how, guys."

Yamato nodded, pleased to hear it explained better. "There is one final thing to decide here." The captains looked to him. "Who goes and who stays."

Toshiro stepped forward. "I want to go, Captain."

Rukia stepped up next, "I will too."

Kenpachi grinned, stepping forward. "I think it was already set in stone that I'd be going."

Shinji raised a hand coolly, substituting that for stepping forward. "I'll fight as well. I think Mashiro and Hiyori should come with us as well. Would that be okay?" The question was directed towards Yamato.

Yamato seemed to be okay with it. "The more hollowfication power on our side the better, I say."

"I'm going for sure. Orihime said she'd go, too. She would be a good healing support." Ichigo said next.

Shunsui tipped his hat up, a slight grin showing. "Think I'll join this suicide party as well."

"I'm going as well. We're going to take that bastard down!" Kensei stated powerfully, crossing his arms.

"And I already know who our 11th man will be." Kenji said, paying Rukia a brief glance.

Yamato didn't question him and just nodded. "Very well then. When are they going with you, Kenji?"

"Tonight at 8pm. I want everyone to meet me at the Senkaimon." Kenji informed.

The meeting ended and everyone was going their own separate way. The ones that would be going to fight the war, Kenji assumed would be going to do a lot of preparing. Rukia had caught up with him. "Who's going to be the 11th man, and doesn't that mean Ichika and Kazui can't go?"

Kenji showed her a face as if it was obvious. "Renji of course. I know there's just no way he'd let you go without him. And, I actually can bring 13 with me. I only said 11, because I knew that the head captain wouldn't agree with Ichika and Kazui going."

Rukia smiled. He had two good points. "About Ichika?"

"I haven't forgotten. You talk to Renji, fill him in, and I'll handle Ichika!" He flashed away.

Where could she be? Kenji didn't know why, but he had a feeling that he knew every time the question popped up in his head. From captain quarters to captain quarters, till he ran into Rangiku and asked her if she knew where Ichika might be. Rangiku didn't have a clue and moved on to wanting to know why he looked so familiar. He would've stuck around to blow her mind, but he had someone very important to find first. So, he apologized for jetting off and continued to his search.

Where…

Could…

She…

Then had to think about himself. Where did he go? Whenever he wanted to be alone and have the world to himself to think?

And like a spark going off, he knew. Well, he had a very good idea. He flashed stepped to Sokyoku Hill by two very tall pillars that used to be intact, connected to each other. That was before his Dad destroyed it. He flashed to the top of one, and there she was, sitting on it, watching the sunset.

She didn't pay him a glance, keeping her face forward on the sunset. But she did acknowledge his presence. "What are you doing here and how did you find me? I thought I masked my reiatsu..."

"You did." He told her. "A little too well. You know I searched all over the Seireitei for you?"

She finally gave him her attention. Her expression was still sad. "That's your own fault. I didn't ask to be found."

"Hey," He was pointing at the pillar top, silently asking her to scoot over. She sighed and did. "Thanks." Taking a deep breather before talking, he had to think to himself about how much she was reminding him of himself. "Listen. I wasn't going to just leave you hurt and alone. Your mom was going to look for you first, but I insisted that I'd do it."

"Why? Not like you care about me."

"That's not true. In a way, you're my sister, you know? And… I used to come up here all the time, too. When I felt mad at everyone. Why doesn't anyone trust me? Believe in me? Am I not good enough? I can be like my father!" Ichika was starting to really listen to him then. "Each time, I failed to realize that I was angry for no reason. No one ever said any of those things to me. Nor did they ever doubt me. They were only trying to protect me." Everyone he knew and loved flashed through his mind, smiling back at him.

"They never think of that when it comes to Kazui." Her bottled resentment started to show. She started voicing her inner thoughts. "Why? Is it because he's Kazui? The boy that's just like his amazing, strong willed father? Already mastering hard techniques. Always a step ahead of me!" She shook her head. "And it's not like I hate him. I don't. I actually, really…" The words died there, before she recomposed herself. "I just want everyone to believe _I can_ too. I want to _protect_ too."

Not meaning to sound insensitive, he chuckled, smiling down at her. "What does Kazui think?" Because he already knew the answer to end her inner turmoil.

Ichika could hear Kazui's words in her head, giving her peace and calmness. It made her smile slightly.

 _'_ _Oh. And Ichika. You are strong enough. Don't doubt that in you. If we had to fight side by side in any war, I'd trust you with my life.'_

"He believes in me." She inhaled deeply and jumped to her feet. Her fighting determination and confidence was back. "You know what! I'm okay with not going. I'll be the best moral support from another world ever! So you and everyone else better not lose, Kenji-san! And you better make sure nothing happens to Kazui, or my mom, or my dad, or anyone else, got that!?"

He laughed again. "Why don't you just do that yourself?"

That made her face go blank with confusion quick. "Wait. What? I can only do that if…" She started to catch on, seeing his smiling face. "I'm going? I can go?!" He nodded. Air hopping, she yelled out to the sunset, "I'm going! Watch out new world, because Ichika Abarai is going to make you safe again!" Now Kenji was touched in a certain spot in his heart. With a strong, reassuring look, she smiled widely at him, "Right?"

He stood, receiving her confidence. "Ah. That's for damn sure."

Meanwhile, Rukia and Byakuya had just got back to the Kuchiki Manor. Renji had spotted them and walked by. "Yo," he said.

Renji had no idea what was going on. Rukia didn't have much of a chance to explain what was going on to him. And now it was time to. She greeted him back with a loving smile and hug. "Renji. There's something we need to tell you."

"What's up?"

By the time Rukia and Byakuya had gotten through explaining to him, he was lost for words and shell shocked. "Are you serious? That's unheard of. I can't believe this…."

"I know. We're heading to the other world in a couple hours." Rukia said.

Renji's mind was racing. "What!? You're going?" She nodded. "I'm for sure going now, too. He better make room for me or I'm—"

Rukia cut him off with a smile, "Renji. Honey. You are going. He already knew that you'd want too."

He calmed down a bit at hearing that. "Oh. Okay then…"

"And Ichika is going as well," She got the words out quickly, but he caught every single one. Byakuya stood beside her, reacting to this only barely. It was news to him and he weighed it out.

Renji on the other hand, was not weighing anything out and was livid. "No way, Rukia. Are you out of your mind? That's our little girl we're talking about."

Byakuya spoke his mind. "My Niece is strong enough to hold her own against my squads' lower ranked members, and she is quite adaptive at all types of kido. For you to not trust in her abilities, is greatly disappointing. You can't shelter her from this."

Renji bit back everything he wanted to say against it. He hated to admit it, but Byakuya was right. It was hard, though. He doesn't want anything bad happening to his little girl. But, at the same time, he had to realize—his little girl is already a soul reaper. Not much left of sheltering her from anything. He exhaled. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. Okay. But she is not leaving my side!"

Rukia caringly patted his back, knowing that her daughter would most likely go off ahead with Kazui, but she wasn't going to bring that to his attention and give him another panic attack. He already agreed to let her go. Rukia just played along to sooth his mind. "Okay, honey."

And so, everyone prepared for the cross to a different and dangerous world. Everyone could feel it before the war even officially started.

The calm before the storm.


	10. Chapter 10

The time came. Everyone was at the Senkaimon. The captains and everyone else stood around. They were waiting for Kenji to show up. He was almost 20 minutes late. Hiyori lost her temper, stomping her foot. "Where the hell is this guy!?" She furiously pointed her finger at Shinji, glaring. "You said he was some guy from the future and that he would be bringing us to another world, but he's no where around! Is this a prank!?"

Shinji simply turned his head away from facing her steaming face. He kept his composure calm. "He's going to be here. Calm down, would you?"

Mashiro was tuned out to Hiyori's outburst and didn't catch exactly everything she said. By the time she focused back in on her, she was done speaking her frustration. "What's a few more minutes, Hiyori?"

Hiyori bit her tongue bitterly, still not pleased.

Just in that moment, the Senkaimon lit up. Everyone's attention went fully to it and saw Kenji step out of it. But not alone. Ichigo, Orihime and Kazui were with him. The captains didn't catch on to why Kazui came too. Or maybe there were just hoping that it wasn't the obvious reason why.

Kazui waved with an unwavering confident look. "Hey guys."

Shunsui's eyes widened a bit with a smile, seeing him. "Hey, kid. Wouldn't lie and say it's not great to see you, but the timing isn't."

"What's he doing here, Kurosaki?" Toshiro asked. His eyes were directed to Ichigo when he asked, so Kenji knew not to answer the question.

"He's coming with us." Ichigo didn't beat around the truth.

Most of everyone, actually everyone except for Kenpachi did not like the sound of that. Kenpachi grinned. "Hell yeah, kid. Join the fight like a real man."

"Wait, no," Shinji objected, "real man? No offense but he's still a kid and bringing him would be dangerous."

"I won't make trouble for you guys, I swear!" Kazui was quick to say.

But Shinji just plainly looked at him. "Dangerous for you. Everyone here is responsible for themselves if we get separated. When you're alone, and you will be, no will be around to help you if things get rough, kid."

Kazui's eyes strayed away a moment, thinking about his final training session with Yoruichi earlier. his eyes held a confident glare that they couldn't see, but did sense. "I can handle it."

* * *

 **Flash Back – 6 Hours Earlier**

After Ichigo had left the soul society with Kenji and knowing that he had the green light to join the war, Kazui immediately headed to train with Yoruichi. He wanted to train as much as he could before he had to leave with everyone.

At the shop, Kazui raced inside, out of breath and panting. Kisuke wasn't around again and Yoruichi just happened to be laying on the floor in cat form. She was hardly surprised when he showed up. Her voice was deep in cat form when she spoke. "Ready for your next session already?"

He caught his breath for a while longer before answering her. "I'm leaving soon."

Yoruichi rose from her laid-back position at hearing him say that. "To go where?"

Kazui was about to just blurt out where, but then he halted. He didn't know if Yoruichi knew or not. Too bad for him, he didn't hide the inner conflict well on his face. She read him like a book with big bold letters. He was keeping something important from her. But not on purpose. Should he say something, even if she's not supposed to know?

Yoruichi sighed. "Whatever you're thinking of keeping from me right now, don't."

Kazui swallowed his hesitance. She knew he was holding back. No point in trying to fake it. "It's a long story…"

"How soon are you leaving?"

Kazui lightly exhaled out a smile. "Actually I… don't know. Might be in 3 hours. 4? I honestly only know I'm leaving."

"Then—start from the beginning." She told him.

Kazui did as she demanded. He told her everything about Kenji and the other world. By the time he was finished, maybe an hour had passed. Kazui had found his way to sitting beside her while a string of silenced passed between them. It was a lot to take in. It was hard to tell how she felt about all of it, though, since her cat face gave away nothing much. What happened next, Kazui wasn't prepared for and it nearly stopped his heart. Yoruichi had changed back to her human form. She was naked and baring it all to Kazui.

He shot away from her. "Geez, Yoruichi!"

She stood up, expression neutral. "Hm. That's unbelievable. And they're actually letting you go." When she eyed him, Kazui couldn't tell what was going through her mind in that moment. It was cross between concern and… anger?

The blush on his face had faded. "What?"

She masked it away when he asked her that. Hiding it with a chill, small smile. "Nothing. The reason you came here is to train, right? To prepare you for it?" He nodded. "Well don't expect to be 100% prepared. You still haven't mastered shielding your entire body and…"

"And?"

She caught herself from saying something. "You're hand to hand combat is not that great and you could be a bit better on your swordsmanship."

Kazui felt like a ton of bricks had been dropped on him. If she was trying to make all of his confidence go away and put his self-esteem at an all-time low, she was right on the mark. "Anything else?"

"Yes." She smirked. "Even so, I think you'll be fine when you get to 70%."

"Wait. What percent am I now?"

"50%. We have a lot of hard work to do with the amount of time you're giving me, Kazui."

Awesome. There's no way he can do this. Kazui was starting to regret wanting to go. Even Yoruichi was telling him that he wasn't ready for it. Kazui's eyes casted downward.

Shaking her head, Yoruichi gently tilted his head up to look at her. "Do you want to know what percent your Dad was at when he went to rescue Rukia? Go-ahead. Take a guess." She dropped her hand from his chin, smiling.

Kazui really thought about it. All the trouble and hardship that his dad went through on the mission. He almost died so many times. And the final time when he almost died, his hollow took over to save him. If it wasn't for his hollow side, he would have died. But his father was still strong. He had to have been stronger than him when he was his age. "60%, right?"

Yoruichi laughed. "Cute. But no. When he went to save her, he was barely ready to face lieutenant ranked. Which is why he had such a hard time before I entered the picture to help him. Before the training I put him through, he was roughly 30%. After the training, he was 60%." Well, Kazui kind of still had it right, he noted. "I'm telling you this, because your father, even when weaker than you are now, still went against all odds without fear. You're just like him. Fearless. That's why you're going, right?"

Kazui took a deep breath, taking his confidence back in and smiled. His eyes were glaring with determination. "Yeah."

"Good. Let's get started then."

"Ah," Kazui blushed heavily again once he took in her naked appearance again. He covered his eyes. "Please put something on first."

Just like his father. It amused her. "You're right. It wouldn't be best to fight you barefoot."

"Everything on!"

She laughed as she left to clothe herself.

The training was unbelievably taxing for Kazui. Everything he went through the last time, didn't compare. All the kicks to the body he received hurt more and it wasn't because she was hitting harder, it was because he was physically and mentally drained by the one hundredth kick. He felt the pain 100x more. Over and over again he tried shielding himself. 2 Hours in he managed to get it to shield from his arms to his shoulders. It was the best upside of the training yet and it made him smile widely.

"Good job," She told him. "Still far from the main goal, though."

His smile died slightly as he shrugged, turning his back to her. "If you say so—"

The next second he was face planted into the dirt ground after being kicked in the back. She rested her case. "See, if you had reach the goal, that would've have hurt you."

Kazui could feel all the nerves in his back twitch in pain. "Right… Let's take a break."

Yoruichi helped him up, pulling his arm to bring him up to his feet. Though he could barely stand upright on them. "Sure."

Kazui collapsed back down and laid on his back. Yoruichi sat beside him. It was quiet – before she broke it. "What exactly do you think about when you try to shield yourself?" She might as well had been talking to herself, because the only response she got was a light snore from him. Looking at him, she sees that he's asleep. Yoruichi didn't know how much time they really had left to train and contemplated waking him. But stopped herself when better judgement entered her mind. She could at least let him rest an hour. Thinking, she wondered why Kisuke hadn't told her about the war. When he got back from being called to the captains meeting, he acted like everything was fine. Somewhat. Whatever the reason, she's going to knock him over the head next chance he gets. He better not tell her he "forgot" when she confronts him.

Settling that annoyance in her mind, she decided to stay by Kazui's side, and while she sat there, she thought about when Kisuke first started training him when he was younger. She helped him learn a few things on the side too, but this was the first time she was his main trainer. When he was young, the training was a precaution for him. They hoped teaching him to learn and control his abilities would help him suppress his hollow side. And it did. She's sure that ever since that one hollow incident, his hollow hasn't surfaced itself. Maybe it was because Kazui never found himself almost dead since then. Or maybe the hollow is letting Kazui have control for now. At the moment, it didn't matter, did it? He's going to have to take control of it one day. The day they tell him about it, that is. And she wondered…

Should the day be now?

His hollow may show itself once he's in the war and in serious trouble. A lot of things could go wrong for him and everyone else if that happened. Kisuke told her to wait till he mastered bankai. Till he fully had a grasp on his Zanpakuto and power. If she doesn't say something, would helping him master his shielding be enough?

Kazui stirred slightly as he groaned softly. She looked closer to his face and noticed he was blushing. It made her wonder why as she thoughtfully studied his sleeping reactions. "At least… put some clothes on… before you hit me, Yoru…ichi."

Hearing him say that in his sleep made her pull back with a light laugh. She was honestly caught off guard. Not to mention, she didn't exactly know how to feel about it. "Even in his sleep I'm annoying him."

She had a feeling he'd be fine without knowing then.

An hour later, Yoruichi stayed true to what she told herself and woke him up by dumping water on his face. Kazui rose quickly, very startled. "What in the!?"

"Time to get back to work." She said, holding out a hand to him. His eyes laid on her helping hand. "Are you ready to handle it?"

Could he handle more? He didn't know if he could alone. But… He gripped her hand. He didn't have to worry about that. He had her help. And he would have their help in the war. And they would have his help. He was ready to handle anything with his loved ones. "Yeah. I'm ready."

* * *

 **End of Flash Back**

Shinji accepted his answer with a nod. "Okay then."

Kenji surveyed who all was present. All except for…

"We're here!" Rukia outburst after flashing into view, along with Renji and much to everyone's surprise, Ichika.

Shinji pointed her out. "Please tell me she's only here to say her farewells."

Renji's arms folded. "My daughter is going. She'll be fine. She's going to stick by my side—"

Kazui approached her with a smile and held out a fist to pound. "You got my back, right?"

Renji never saw his daughter's eyes light up so much. Ichika nodded, smiling back as she pounded his fist with her own. "Of course, dummy."

Their fist stayed touching… until Renji awkwardly coughed and hand chopped between their fist, breaking them apart. "And I will be right there too, guys." He had a smile of his own, but it was weirdly strained.

Rukia shook her head. She honestly had sympathy for her husband. His daughter didn't find the most safety in him, but in Kazui. He had to accept that one day.

Ichika looked to her father with wonder. "Dad…"

Shinji was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's just go already."

"Wait." Toshiro cut in sharply. "I thought you said you could only bring 11 to cross over with you, Kenji."

Kenji was messing with his wrist band and pressing functions. "Um… Yeah. Kazui and Ichika were already set to come with and I could only bring 11 more."

"Right…" Toshiro deadpanned. He saw through his deception, but let it slide. It wasn't his place to say anything. If Ichigo and Rukia trusted their kids to go, it wasn't much of his business. He only hoped they truly would be okay in the fight.

Messing with the last few things on his band, Kenji looked up at everyone. "I have you all in the radius to come with me and the body count won't strain the device. You're all going to feel a heavy shift in your bodies, but that's normal…." Kenji looked away for a split second, "Vomit is also a possibility…." He said lowly. They didn't really catch what he said, he figured, since no questions rose. He faced them again. "Everyone ready?"

Shunsui smiled slightly. "I think we are."

"Okay then." Kenji held his finger above the "transport" button that would send them to his world. This was really happening. He was going to save his world and his family. There was no way they were going to lose the war. He'd make sure of it. His finger pressed it. The next split second that passed by was entirely warped and within a flash, everyone was flung to the ground of a street. Only Kenji stood on his feet, because he was used to the unpredictable rough landing of the device.

Hiyori was furious and was about to yell out in anger, but Shinji lucky enough was dropped next to her and quickly covered her mouth. Even still, it wasn't enough to completely muffle her voice. As everyone was rising to their feet, a swarm of hollows crowded around them. It was night time. The sky was already dark, but with the growing rate of hollows it was an eerie shadow of hell.

"Look what you did…" Shinji told her, still covering her mouth.

She snapped back at him. "Wha I Diph?!"

Kazui gripped his hilt. Him and Ichika were side by side. She was doing the same as him. "You ready for this?" He asked her.

"Yeah!"

Before any of them could brace themselves for an all out hollow attack, a vase, blue bubble shield encased them. They were all confused and wondered how it suddenly appeared. The question was soon answered, when into sight out of thin air, Kurotsuchi appeared beside Kenji.

"I just knew you'd attract trouble on your arrival back." He said as a matter of fact. The hollows stopped in their tracks and hovered around a while before scattering away. It was as if they suddenly disappeared to the hollows.

Kenji was grateful to see him. If he didn't show up, they'd all be having a tough time fighting through the thousands of hollows. "Good to see you," Kenji told him. Seeing that Kurotsuchi's attention was on the bunch of people that he brought back with him, Kenji took the liberty to announce it. "As you can see, I brought help."

"I do see that." His eyes scanned through all of them, smiling.

Ichigo was the first to say something to the other world man. "So, you're not…"

Kurotsuchi shook his head, already knowing what he'd ask. "And your surely not the Ichigo I know. The feel about you is very different…" His eyes darted to Kenji. "Honestly that worries me."

Kenji made sure to reassure him. "He still has the same fighting abilities." He hoped…

"Humph. And some lightness in his eyes. But I guess that's to be expected." Ichigo didn't know how to respond that. Kurotsuchi then noticed the two teens with them as well. "I would ask, but I think I already know. I will ask, why did you let them come with you?"

Ichika didn't need him to say her or Kazui's name to know that he was talking about them. She was as fiery as ever when she spoke for herself. "Because I'm not afraid to fight for everyone's sake! And neither is he." Kazui nodded.

Kurotsuchi then looked at her as if he discovered something fascinating. "Rukia and Renji's child?" Kenji nodded. "Little girl, it's not a matter of being afraid, but the ability to make it go away. I hope your words back up your abilities in this war." His eyes then studied Kazui. "Ichigo and…"

"Orihime's." Kenji further cleared up for him.

"My expectations were on that other one… The Tatsuki girl. Or did you not go to that universe?"

Ichigo's eyes almost shot out his head.

"I did, but." Kenji's eyes hardened then. "Yhwach had got there first."

Kurotsuchi folded his arms. "Hmm. I see."

Kensei went ahead to speak on the matter. "Excuse me, but, isn't that the main reason we're here? Stop chit chatting and let's move on to it. Where are we going from here?"

"Right. Of course," Kurotsuchi responded. "I'm taking you all to my lab facility – right now."

After he said that, the area inside the bubble flashed a bright white light. Once all the light cleared and everyone recovered from partial blindness, they all saw that they were no longer on the broken streets of a broken town, but in a lab. The flooring was broken and cracked stone. The walls were rundown as well. The only thing that seems to semi be in well shape were the tech and gadgets around.

Shunsui whistled, impressed. "Even in a crisis you manage to scrape up a lab."

"Funny. That's the same thing this-world-you said. It should be no surprise." Kurotsuchi responded.

Renji was astonished. He hand been since the moment they arrived at that world. "Are we not going to address that fact that all of this is real and we were just teleported here?"

"I don't think anything can surprise me at this point." Kenpachi said honestly.

"I second that…" Hiyori said, gazing around.

Mashiro was in amazement, but was confused as well as she arched a brow. "Shinji? Just what have you gotten us involved in?"

He looked at her simply, arms folded. "I didn't explain? We're fighting a war."

She snapped back at him. "Yeah, but didn't care to explain that his war is in _another_ world!"

His eyes immediately went to Hiyori. "I told you to explain the details to her."

Hiyori laughed sheepishly. "Oh yeah. It's in another world, Mashiro."

Mashiro pouted as she fumed.

Toshiro passed up the idiot trio and approached Kurotsuchi. "What is the plan here?"

Kurotsuchi caught a gleam in his eye as he grinned. "Storm the soul society and take it back. But before all of that, there are a few things we need to get straight. Operation revive, search and dangerous negation."


End file.
